Use of Compost and Microclover to Reduce Nutrient and Sediment Runoff from Home Lawns.

New single family home developments are frequently associated with poor soil chemical and physical conditions that promote runoff and drive new homeowners to apply more lawn fertilizer than homeowners residing in older, more mature, developments. Compost based soil restoration and the use of clover containing seed mixtures at the establishment are two practices that offer the potential to reduce runoff and fertilizer use in newly established lawns. The objective of the study is to compare the runoff, total N, total P, total dissolved solids (TSS) losses and from unfertilized plots amended with 5 cm of compost and seeded with a 5% microclover (Trifolium repens L. var. Pirouette) 95% tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) mixture with plots seeded with tall fescue and fertilized as a typical lawn care operator would do in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA. The latter treatment consisted of five yearly applications 34.2 kg.ha^-1.urea N and once or twice per year application of a preemergence and post emergence herbicide to control annual grass and broad leaf weeds respectively. The two lawn treatments are replicated twice on 3% hillside slope with monitoring of runoff restricted to above freezing temperature storm events only. Cumulative runoff losses from non-fertilized compost amended plots were 43% less than from non-amended plots receiving fertilizer in the first year of this study. Peak total N and total P concentrations measured at initiation of flow were similar for two treatments with total N and total P not exceeding 6.82 and 1.23 mg L^-1 respectively. Total dissolve solid concentration at the initiation of flow were also similar for the two treatments with no sample exceeding 223 mg L^-1.