The profound impact of soil water repellency (WR) on vadose zone processes makes accurate characterization of this phenomenon paramount. Numerous WR measurement techniques exist, each having advantages and disadvantages with regard to laboriousness, resolution, and accuracy. The molarity of ethanol droplet (MED) test quantifies WR as the lowest ethanol concentration permitting droplet penetration within 5 s, or alternatively, the 90° liquid surface tension of the infiltrating droplet (γND). This method is simple and rapid but poorly represents soil wetting behavior across measurement intervals. Although time consuming, water/ethanol sorptivity ratio calculation of the repellency index (R) generates a continuous, linear scale of WR that intrinsically isolates the effect of WR on infiltration. This study compared MED and R measurements of sand samples displaying varying degrees of WR. Each technique was performed at 20°C and 1.78 kPa H2O vapor pressure using duplicate subsamples of oven‐dried (55°C) sands. A nonlinear association between R and γND or MED was observed. Regressing log10 R by γND revealed a statistically significant model, yet the 95% log10 R prediction interval included values less than the theoretical lower limit of R Alternatively, regressing log10 R by MED generated the following model (P < 0.0001, r2 = 0.727): log10 R = 0.705 + 0.5144(MED), capable of predicting R within the operation bounds of R theory. While the predicted R values are distributed across a wide interval, their availability offers cautious users an intuitive scale for enhanced interpretation of more commonly generated MED data.

Particulate organic matter (OM) and surface area–limited sands are associated with soil water repellency (SWR) in turfgrass systems. The increasing ubiquity of amended sand rootzones warrants investigation of factors contributing to SWR. Our objective was to identify how amendment type and/or inclusion rate affect rootzone SWR over a range of irrigation regimes. A U.S. Golf Association–specified sand was amended with dried turfgrass roots and either sphagnum peat moss (SPM), reed sedge peat (RSP), biosolid compost (BSC), or calcined clay (CC) at 0, 0.1, or 0.2 m3 m−3 Mixes were saturated, gravitationally drained, incubated under isothermal ventilation having mean vapor pressures of 1.78, 2.19, or 2.45 kPa, and reirrigated when matric tension exceeded 300 kPa. After 138 d, rootzone subsamples were eluted of particulate OM before measuring mineral‐adsorbed hydrocarbon content (MAHC) by infrared spectroscopy. The repellency index was used to quantify SWR of intact (Rintact) and eluted (Reluted) samples. Amendment rate (0.2 > 0.1 > 0 m3 m−3) and type (BSC > RSP = SPM > CC) significantly affected Rintact Only CC‐amended rootzones were more wettable than the control. Severely elevated Reluted and MAHC were observed in all sands amended by BSC. Inclusion of SPM or RSP at 0.1 m3 m−3 resulted in Reluted and MAHC values statistically equivalent to the control rootzone. At 0.2 m3 m−3 inclusion, all organic amendments significantly increased Reluted and MAHC relative to the control (BSC > RSP = SPM).