A list of things you will need:An instrument to measure the volume of water: graduated cylinder or some form of measuring cup
How to determine physical properties of a container media
For a discussion on physical properties and why they are important, see
the previous article.
A list of things you will need:
An instrument to measure the volume of water: graduated cylinder or some
form of measuring cup
Scale for weighing
Aluminum pie plate
A saucer - these are commonly sold for putting under house plants, you can get them at any garden center.
1. The
first step is to determine the volume of your container. Do
this by plugging the holes and filling the container with water up to
the line that you would normally fill with media. Record this volume
on the worksheet on line A.
Tip: you can use duct tape to seal the holes on a normal container, however,
this a lot harder than you would think (trust me!!). Call your container supplier
and ask for a couple of containers without holes. They should be able to
accommodate you. Use these containers to determine the volume by filling
with water.
2. Fill the container with a relatively moist media
so that it easily accepts water. Fill to the same level you would normally
fill the container, and firm the media similar to when potting.
Tip:
Ask your container manufacturer for some containers without holes. On the
bottom, drill
a
3/4
inch
hole
and plug it with a rubber or cork stopper.
3. Add water to the media slowly. Fill water until you can see
the top of the container glisten. Tap the sides of the container slightly
to allow air bubbles to escape. The objective of this step is to
fill every pore space with water.
Tip: Use your finished media with all the components mixed, including
fertilizers. Take your time with this step to ensure that the entire pore
space is filled
with water.
4. Carefully
remove the plug from the container bottom. DO
NOT tilt the container, try to hold it as level as possible. Use
a large pan to collect all the water that drains from the container. Allow
10 to 15 minutes for adequate drainage. Record the volume of water
that drains from the container on line B of the worksheet.
Note: Every milliliter of water that drains from the container must be filled with the same volume of air. So by recording the volume of water that drains, we can determine the container volume filled with air, and hence Air Space.
Tip: Use the lid to a canning jar to hold the container off the saucer
until it fully drains. Another option is to cut 3" diameter pvc pipe into rings.
These rings also come in handy when conducting pour-thru tests used in monitoring
container nutrition.
5. Dump the entire contents of the container into an aluminum pie
pan.
Weigh the pan and record the weight in grams on line C of
the worksheet.
Put the pan in
an oven or allow to dry in a warm greenhouse for several days. Dry
the bark until it is completely dry.
Tip: Using an aluminum pie pan like this will require at least 3 pans
for a 1 gallon container.
6. When completely dry, weigh the pan again (in grams) and record the value on line D of the worksheet.
Note: 1 milliliter of water weighs exactly 1 gram, in other words: 1 g H2O
= 1 ml H2O. By weighing the amount of water that is dried off the media,
we know the volume of water held by the media. This volume is the Water Holding
Capacity.
7. Use the instructions on the worksheet to perform
any unit conversions, and to determine the physical properties of your media.
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