Concentrations of K, NO3-N, and Terbacil were measured in subsurface drainage from shallow-tilled (ST) and deep-tilled (DTL) plots of an acid, sandy Spodosol during a 2-week period of transient water flow after 7.6 cm of irrigation. Generally, the concentrations of all these solutes were higher in ST drainage water than in DTL drainage. An exception occurred during the initial water discharge from the subsurface drains, when the NO3-N concentrations were considerably greater in water flowing from DTL soil. Nitrification of fertilizer NH4-N in the heavily limed DTL soil was assumed to contribute to the initially higher NO3-N concentrations in the drainage. Measurements of volumetric drainage from the drains and soil solution within the soil region influenced by the drains clearly confirmed previous observations that the rates of water discharge from the ST drain were much greater than those from the DTL drain. The cumulative drainage from ST soil over the 2-week period was approximately twice that from DTL. In ST soil the water table rose to within 100 cm from the surface during the infiltration of water applied by pop-up sprinklers, but in DTL soil the water table rose to within 60 cm from the soil surface. The slower drainage, the higher soil-water contents, and the higher contents of clay minerals and organic matter in the upper 60 cm of the DTL soil resulted in K, NO3-N, and Terbacil discharges that were only 30, 37, and 14% as large as those for ST soil. Thus, the deep-tilled, acid, sandy soil discharged less drainage water, K, NO3-N, and Terbacil during the 2-week period than occurred from the shallow-tilled soil. Leaching losses of K and NO3-N included contributions of residual nutrients from previous fertilizer applications and were considered large for the short duration of this study.