Nursery and Flower Grower

In the previous post, I showed that soil air-filled porosity and flooding can affect the occurrence and severity of root rot. There are some other related factors that can affect root rot too. Soil settling can occur for various reasons and can reduce air- filled porosity.

Parameters for air- porosity and water- holding capacity have been established for container soils. These parameters were developed based on the needs of the plant. But the occurrence of root diseases can be affected by the amount of air and water in the soil too.

Container soils should have a good balance between air- porosity and water- holding capacity. But what are the favorable levels of these two parameters? Most horticulturists will recommend providing a soil with good drainage.

Container soils must have the right balance of air-filled and water-filled pore space. This is especially important right after irrigation. I showed in the previous blog that field soils shouldn't be used in containers because they don't drain well and create a saturated root environment.

Over 4000 years ago, records depict Egyptians transporting Frankincense trees to Somalia. The trees were moved in containers. It is likely that these ancient horticulturists found great difficulty in growing plants and moving trees in containers filled with field soil.