Rainfall impact on sodium leaching at Denver Country Club
In the July 13, 2011 Super Journal report, "Rainfall impact on sodium leaching at Denver Country Club" (1.3 MB pdf document), we show the dramatic and positive impact that spring rainfall can have on reducing soil sodium and salinity.
In short, we saw that a 2.5 inch rainfall, which occurred over a 36 hour period during the spring of 2011, resulted in a 41% reduction in sodium, and a 19% reduction in overall soil salts.
In addition to causing general stress to turf and potential issues with soil physical properties, high sodium and high salts are also associated with rapid blight, a disease caused by Labyrinthula terrestris. In years when winter and spring rainfall is low, it may therefore be necessary to leach greens with good quality domestic water in order to avoid reaching the maximum levels of 110 ppm sodium that can result in rapid blight infestation.
Project title: Rainfall impact on sodium leaching at Denver Country Club
Principal investigator: Doug Brooks, Denver Country Club and Larry Stowell, Ph.D., CPAg, PACE Turf LLC
Further reading:
- PACE Turf Super Journal Report, "Rainfall impact on sodium leaching at Denver Country Club" (1.3 MB pdf document) posted 7/13/11
- Spreadsheet for calculating sodium hazard of irrigation water (18 KB Excel spreadsheet)
- Video: sodium accumulation
- PACE Super Journal report: Evaluating the sodium hazard in your irrigation water
