50 Ways - 22. Determine Your Soil's Potential for Leaching

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50 Ways Farmers Can Protect Their Groundwater

Nitrogen

1. Set realistic yield goals
2. Test the soil
3. Credit other nitrogen sources
4. Apply nitrogen in the spring
5. Use nitrification inhibitors when effective

Scouting

6. Scout fields

Insecticides

7. Know the economic thresholds for insects
8. Consider insect-resistant crop varieties
9. Spot-treat insect infestations when possible
10. Know how tillage affects insects
11. Know how crop rotation affects insects
12. Adjust planting & harvesting dates to control insects
13. Conserve beneficial insects
14. Consider using biological insecticides

Herbicides

15. Know the economic thresholds for weeds
16. Fine-tune your weed program to reduce rates
17. Manage crops to compete aggressively with weeds
18. Don't increase herbicide rates with conservation tillage
19. Band herbicides and cultivate
20. Control weeds with cover crops

Pesticide Selection

21. Determine the organic-matter of your soil
22. Determine your soil's potential for leaching
23. Determine your pesticide's potential for leaching
24. Determine the soil-pesticide interaction rating
25. Consider other critical pesticide qualities

Pesticide application

26. Select the proper nozzle tips
27. Calibrate your sprayer
28. Consider direct injection
29. SPrevent backsiphoning

Pesticide disposal and storage

30. Rinse chemical containers thoroughly
31. Dispose of rinsed containers safely
32. Dispose of excess chemicals safely
33. Store agrichemicals safely
34. Prevent and clean up chemical spills
35. Construct a rinse pad

Site conditions, wells, and septic systems

36. Know your well site conditions
37. Locate your well away from contamination sources
38. Make sure your well is constructed properly
39. Seal abandoned wells
40. Make sure your septic system operates correctly

Water testing & treatment

41. Test your water routinely
42. Test your water for coliform bacteria & nitrate
43. Test you water for pesticides
44. Know the signs of contaminants in drinking water
45. Select effective water-treatment methods

46. Store livestock waste properly
47. Have old, underground fuel storage tanks removed
48. Dispose of other hazardous waste safely
49. Take precautions when irrigating
50. Take precautions when chemigating

22. Determine Your Soil's Potential for Leaching
	To get a handle on how organic matter, texture, and permeability work together to affect pesticide movement, check with your Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office. The NRCS has analyzed the characteristics of each soil type to determine its potential for leaching. With this information, NRCS places all soil types into one of three categories: high, intermediate, or low potential for leaching.
	If one soil clearly dominates a field, select it as the representative soil type. If several soils dominate a field, determine the leaching potential for each one. Then gear your pesticide selection to the one that is most susceptible to leaching.
	If the field has both fine-textured and coarse-textured soils, you may want to select two representative soils. Then determine the leaching potential for both.
	However, knowing the soil's leaching potential is only part of the picture. To understand what these categories tell you, you also need to find out the pesticide's potential for leaching (Chapter 23). Then you need to put both pieces of information together with the soil-pesticide interaction screening procedure (Chapter 24).