An argument for not dusting the house – ever. It might actually make your plants healthier.
New research published in New Phytologist shows that plants can acquire nutrients not only from the soil but also from atmospheric dust that settles and dissolves on their leaves, releasing elements such as phosphorus and iron. This goes against what many plant owners assume: that dusty leaves impair respiration and growth.
In a Mediterranean field study simulating dust events—common during dust storms—dust application increased plant macronutrient and micronutrient concentrations through the plants’ mildly acidic leaves.
By integrating field observations with dust-deposition estimates and soil nutrient data from different regions, investigators found that during dust events, daily nutrient inputs via foliar uptake can match or even exceed soil-derived inputs.
“This suggests a shift from the traditionally soil-centric view of nutrient acquisition toward a vegetation-mediated pathway, where the plant canopy acts as an active interface for capturing and processing atmospheric particles,” said Dr. Anton Lokshin, a postdoctoral researcher at BGU where the research took place. “In nutrient-limited ecosystems, this leaf-based nutrient pathway may represent an important and currently overlooked contribution to plant nutrition and ecosystem functioning.”
The study was conducted by Anton Lokshin in the laboratory of Dr. Avner Gross, in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Palchan (Ariel University), Prof. Marcelo Sternberg (Tel Aviv University), Tom Goren (Bar Ilan University), and Andre (Mahdi) Nakhavali (IIASA).
