Have you ever had the impression that the plants become greener and grow faster after a thunderstorm? It’s not your imagination; thunderstorms really do stimulate plant growth.
You see, air is composed of 78% nitrogen (N), an element essential to plant growth and especially green foliage, but in the air, nitrogen has the chemical formula N2, that is, two nitrogen atoms attached solidly together. The bond formed is extremely stable and plants aren’t able to break it and thus can’t absorb the nitrogen that surrounds their leaves. It’s a sort of “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” situation, but with nitrogen instead of water. So atmospheric nitrogen, even though it is extremely abundant, is essentially useless to plants.
But when lightning strikes, the intense electrical charge produced breaks the bond between the two nitrogen atoms and they react with oxygen to form nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), oxides that fall to earth with rain droplets and become nitrates upon contact with the soil. Plants can easily break up nitrates and thus release the nitrogen they contain for their growth. As a result, plants really do perk up considerably after a thunderstorm.
So when a thunderstorm blows through, do stay indoors to keep yourself safe from lightning, of course, but be aware that it’s Mother Nature’s way of fertilizing your garden!
This is such a stupid piece of useless information! When plants hear or feel the vibrations of the thunder and lighting do they start rapid uptake of water or do they shut down? Do they perk up after a storm with the fresh sun. I mean no duhh is this just stupid click bait. I mean I want some info