Phosphorous (P) is an important element for growing plants and is regularly added to soil to improve growth and yields. However, simply adding phosphorous won't help your yields if it just gets locked into the soil. Over 75% of added phosphorous can easily stay trapped in the soil, unavailable to growing plants.
Lack of available phosphorous can affect yields even if the problem occurs early in the growing season.
We've already written about the importance of soil pH in making nutrients available but it's been shown that insufficient zinc (Zn) has an effect too, specifically with the release of phosphorous.
This is why some phosphorous-based fertilisers also include zinc and why added zinc can make the difference between an effective phosphorous treatment and a wasted one.
There are two ways to find out if adding zinc will help your soil and your crop yields - trial and error or accurate soil testing in advance. Trial and error can be an expensive business with an unknown outcome, while the cost of soil test equipment can easily be covered by one successful harvest.
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