The tropical legume sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) cultivar 'AU Golden' has the potential to provide substantial nitrogen (N) to subsequent crops to reduce recommended application rates of synthetic N fertilizers. A mineralization field trial was conducted to measure mass decomposition and N and carbon (C) amounts remaining from sunn hemp residue following three planting dates (May, June, and July) during the 2013 growing season at the Tennessee Downloaded by [University of Manitoba Libraries] at 22:58 21 June 2016 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Valley (TVS) and Coastal Plain (WGS) locations of AL. Residue from June and July plantings contained 50. 0% and 61.1% N at WGS and 41.5% and 66.5% N at TVS by the end of their respective incubation periods compared to residue from the May planting, which contained 21.1% N at WGS and 47.8% at TVS. In order to create a more synchronous relationship between 'AU Golden' residue N mineralization and crop demand, termination must be delayed until approximate planting of the following crop.