Question: My trees and shrubs were fertilized the other day and it rained that night, did the rain wash the fertilizer away? 

The answer is a simple NO. 

You then may wonder, why? I thought rain or water leaches the fertilizer through the soil and down into the ground water. That sometimes may happen to synthetic granular fertilizers under very heavy soaking rain, but here at Virginia Green, we use mostly liquid fertilizers. Most fertilizers need water from rain or irrigation to them into the root zones of the plants. Therefore, rain during or after a fertilizer is beneficial for the activation of our fertilizers. 

Another thought about fertilizer is the nutrients that make them up, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium have charges to them similar to a battery, positive or negative. There are also positive and negative charged particles already present in the soil. When the nutrients move into the soil, these positive and negative particles attach themselves to the opposite ones in the soil. These particles thus hold on tight to the ones in the soil, not wanting to let go. 

So the next time the weatherman or your neighbor tells you that it isn’t good to fertilize your trees and shrubs during or before a rain, tell them that, that is a very good time. That’s why it is important to talk with the experts at Virginia Green Lawn Care. Happy gardening and stay green!