Nitrogen Uptake and Leaching on Greens

Superintendents know that management of putting greens is an art. Greens are often made of high-porosity sand that does not retain water or nutrients very effectively. Also, putting green grasses are cut extremely short, which does not allow a deep root system to develop and take up nutrients from deep in the soil profile. Therefore, putting greens require frequent irrigation and fertilizer applications to maintain high turfgrass quality. Superintendents need to be aware that such management increases the potential of fertilizer leaching into ground water. Nitrogen (N) leaching can occur on putting greens, but the intensity is highly variable (Brown, 1982; Mancino and Troll, 1990; Shuman 2001). In order to prevent the escape of N fertilizer applications into the environment, it is important to understand how N cycles in the turfgrass environment (Figure 1). Continued on page 52