In my last article, I started to describe the importance of understanding the nitrogen cycle. I talked about mineralization — the conversion of org­­anic matter to plant-available nitrogen — and nitrific­ation, the conversion of am­­monium to nitrate.

In this article, I will continue on with two additional areas of the nitrogen cycle: volatilization and leaching. Both are natural nitrogen loss mechanisms that can greatly impact the amount of nitrogen available for the crop.

There are four ways nitrogen ...