Establishing three warm‐season turfgrasses with tailored water: I. Growth, cover, and nitrate leaching losses

Although treated effluent is being increasingly used to irrigate mature turfgrass, information on its use to establish grass is limited. Greenhouse experiments were conducted in 2015 and 2017 to examine establishment and nitrate leaching from three warm‐season grasses: buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Natt.) Eng.] ‘SWI 2000’, inland saltgrass [Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene], and bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] ‘Princess77’. All grasses were grown with tailored (tertiary treated effluent with 15 mg L–1 of NO3–N) water. Grasses were established from seed in a loamy sand and irrigated with either tailored or potable water plus granular Ca(NO3)2 fertilizer. Leachate collected at 10‐ and 30‐cm depths was analyzed for NO3–N and electrical conductivity. Overall, establishment was faster and coverage was greater in 2015 than in 2017, but neither differed between irrigation treatments when grasses were analyzed separately. At the end of both establishment periods, bermudagrass and buffalograss coverage was generally greater than that of inland saltgrass. In 2017, bermudagrass irrigated with tailored water resulted in greater coverage than buffalograss or inland saltgrass. In 2015, nitrate concentrations were greater in leachate collected from bermudagrass and inland saltgrass irrigated with tailored water than from grasses irrigated with potable water. Nitrate concentrations in leachate were generally lower in 2017, reaching a maximum value of 65.3 mg L–1 when averaged over all treatment combinations, and did not differ between treatments. Our data suggest that the three grasses studied can be successfully established from seed using tailored waters. Core Ideas Salinity level of tailored irrigation water did not affect turfgrass establishment. In 2015, nitrate leaching was lower from granular fertilizer compared with tailored irrigation. Nitrate leaching in 2017 did not differ between treatments and was lower than in 2015.