To establish whether the efficacy of fertilizers, which are usually simultaneously placed below the seed at planting, is influenced by being in contact with the dry soil for a period of time before seed germination and crop emergence.

• Fertilizer incubated in dry soil tended to have a much greater lability than in wet soil, but diffusion was limited.
• The restricted diffusion during the incubation did not negatively impact nutrient availability to plants subsequently grown in the growth chamber, however, and simulated dry sowing was not shown to have a detrimental effect on fertilizer efficiency.