Abstract.Uniform application rates of fertilizers and herbicides may result in over‐treating some soils and under‐treating others; costs may be unnecessarily large and soil, ground water and surface waters may be contaminated. An alternative is site specific treatment, tailored to individual soil types present in agricultural fields of any size. To study the pollution hazards of the herbicide alachlor, leaching and adsorption experiments used disturbed samples and undisturbed soil columns. Adjoining Ves, Normania and Webster soil series (Udic Haplustoll; Aquic Haplustoll; Typic Haplaquoll) were sampled and analysed for various properties. Ring uniformly14C‐labelled alachlor was used to study adsorption and leaching characteristics in these soils. Results show different alachlor behaviour in topsoil and subsoil l