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Elements of Best Management Practices <br /> Fate of Fertilizers and Pesticides <br /> Pesticides and fertilizers may move off-site in runoff water or downward with percolating <br /> ground water. Alternatively, these chemicals may be degraded within the turfgrass system. <br /> Recent research has shown that in well-managed golf courses,fertilizer and pesticide <br /> residues don't travel far from their original point of application. <br /> Pesticides and fertilizers may adsorb onto the surface of plants or onto the soil. Clay soils <br /> have a greater capacity to adsorb these chemicals than coarse-grained sandy soils. Soils <br /> with high organic content likewise adsorb pesticides and fertilizers. Turfgrasses have a <br /> dense mat of underground roots that ultimately increases the underlying organic content <br /> and improves structure. Soils that are adsorptive are less likely to leach out these materials <br /> to ground water or runoff. The turfgrass system has the capacity to adsorb pesticides and <br /> limit their vertical movement through dissipation by gaseous losses (volatilization), <br /> photodegradation by uv light, microbial decay, hydrolysis (breakdown in water), <br /> conversion to other compounds,and adsorption to soil particles in inert forms (Cooper, <br /> 1990). It is noteworthy that the thatch soil zone underlying turfgrasses creates an aerobic <br /> zone high in organic matter which enhances microbial degradation of adsorption of <br /> herbicides. <br /> Recent studies show that runoff from golf courses is minimal due to the highly absorbent <br /> nature of the turfgrass system. Work by Niemczyk and Krause (1989) show that turfgrass <br /> insecticides normally penetrate no deeper than the top 1 to 1-1/2 inches of the topsoil. With <br /> regard to herbicides, Krause and Niemczyk (1989)found that 78-100% of the residues <br /> were found in the thatch layer. <br /> Buckeye Ranch Resource Plan (November, 1993) <br /> 228 <br />