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Does a Mixed-Species Landscape Reduce Inorganic-Nitrogen Leaching Compared to a Conventional St. Augustinegrass Lawn?

^a Agronomy, Univ. of Florida, P.O. Box 110500, Gainesville, FL 32611
^b Environmental Horticulture, Univ. of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, 3205 College Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
^c Soil and Water Science, Univ. of Florida, Everglades Research and Education Center, 3200 East Palm Beach Rd., Belle Glade, FL 33430
^d Horticulture, Clemson Univ., Pee Dee Research and Education Center, 2200 Pocket Rd., Florence, SC 29506

^* Corresponding author (jerickson{at}ufl.edu).

Low maintenance vegetation may reduce N leaching following establishment compared to routinely fertilized conventional turfgrass lawns. Therefore, using a field-scale facility we examined N leaching from contrasting residential landscape models established on a sandy soil. Four replications each of a St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze] monoculture (SA) and a mixed-species (MS) landscape were randomly assigned to 47.5-m² plots. Fertilizer N was applied to the SA landscape bimonthly at a rate of 50 kg ha^–1 (total of 900 kg N ha^–1), while the MS landscape was fertilized bimonthly at a rate of 40 kg N ha^–1 only during establishment (total of 480 kg ha^–1). Data were collected for 3 yr (16 mo to 52 mo after planting). Cumulative mean inorganic-N leached was 4.1 kg ha^–1 and 7.4 kg ha^–1 for the SA and MS landscapes, respectively. Relatively long establishment requirements for the MS landscape led to significantly greater inorganic-N leaching (5.2 kg ha^–1) in year 1 of the study compared to the SA landscape (1.3 kg ha^–1). After year 1, inorganic-N leaching was comparable on both landscapes, although it was significantly less on the MS landscape in year 3 when no fertilizer was applied. Overall, inorganic-N leaching was low (<2% of applied N) on both landscapes following establishment, indicating the importance of management practices rather than species composition for reducing N leaching from residential land use.

Abbreviations: MS, mixed-species • SA, St. Augustinegrass

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Received for publication September 18, 2007.