October 23, 1998 transcript # 256-5
Subject(s): lightning, gardening
Title: GARDEN LIGHTNING

If you're a gardener, you probably know that nitrogen is one of the most important things you can give your plants to keep them happy and healthy. It's a nutrient that the plants need lots of. But did you know that some of the nitrogen in the soil comes to your plants courtesy of lightning? Hi, I’m Dave Thurlow and this is The Weather Notebook.

There’s actually lots of nitrogen in the air. Four out of every five air molecules you breathe are nitrogen. Unfortunately, most of that nitrogen is not in a usable form. So how can it help your plants if it’s ‘stuck’ in the atmosphere? This is where the lightning comes in. The intense heat produced by the lightning forces the nitrogen to bond with oxygen. This makes something called nitrogen oxides. These nitrogen oxides are produced and mixed in the air and when these compounds eventually settle out of the sky—or fall out with the rain--they bring a now usable form of nitrogen to the soil. The plants are happy. You’re happy.

Is there really enough lightning out there to make a difference? Well, every day lightning strikes the earth over 8 million times somewhere around the surface of the planet. But remember, the lightning doesn’t have to strike your garden to deliver the nitrogen. The lightning just helps the nitrogen in the air combine with rain, which then falls gently to earth. Plenty for your garden…and for everyone else’s.

Thanks today to contributing writer Bob Henson. If you have a weather topic or a question you’d like to ask on the show, you can give us a call, toll-free at 1-888-RAIN-001. And in real numbers, that’s 1- 888-724-6001. Our show is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive, with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.

A February '97 article "Tallying Nitrogen's Increasing Impact."