AbstractAccumulation and depletion of soil phosphorus (P) was studied in a long‐term (37 y) field experiment in Southern Finland. The loam soil had a high pH (7.5–7.7) due to an earlier liming. Spring barley, spring wheat, oat, and ryegrass, grown in rotation, were annually fertilized with 0, 32, or 67 kg P ha−1 y−1 (P0, P1, and P2K) and sufficient N. The average dry matter grain yield 2,600 kg ha−1 of the P0 plots increased by about 500 kg ha−1 at P1 treatment and another 600 kg ha−1 by P2K. Soil samples were collected in 1978 (beginning), 1995, 2005, and 2015. According to the Chang and Jackson sequential extraction, the P2K and P1 treatments increased the inorganic soil P by 732 and 32 kg P ha −1 in 37 years, respectively, while the P0 plots were depleted by –459 kg P ha −1. The P2K treatment increased all four P fractions, extracted with NH4Cl (easily soluble), NH4F (Al‐P), NaOH (Fe‐P), and H2SO4 (Ca‐P). Continuous depletion (P0) decreased the NH4Cl‐P and NH4F‐P pools, NaOH‐P and H2SO4‐P pools remaining stable. None of the P pools changed significantly at P1. The remarkable gap between the measured change and the balance for the P2K and P1 treatments cannot be explained solely by lateral soil movement, meaning that a significant proportion of the applied P was lost either in surface runoff or transported below the investigated depth of 40 cm. Despite large P applications, the degree of P saturation reached only 20% in the P2K topsoil, assuming a 50% reactivity of Fe and Al oxides. As derived from sorption isotherms, a high EPC0 (i.e., equilibrium P concentration at zero net P sorption or desorption) of 1.30 mg L−1 had been built up in the P2K treatment, while in the P1 treatment EPC0 (0.33 mg L−1) had remained unchanged and P depletion (P0) had caused a decrease to 0.12 mg L−1. These results demonstrate that P sorption and desorption properties respond strongly to both P fertilization and null fertilization treatments and that in a long‐term field experiment only a low proportion of the residual fertilizer P can be recovered from soil.