Planting trees: Should I fertalize them?

[John Paul Sanborn]

Movement of water through soil is a surface effect across particles.

Waster must move from particle to particle, and voids need to fill up in each strata before the water can move down to the next. You will frequently find stagnant water that has lost its free O2, thus becoming anaerobic.

The old idea of adding gravel to assits with drainage just makes the voids bigger, ir so I've read.

also when you have an homogenic boundary there is often compaction boundary that makes matters worse.

 

[outofmytree]

Movement of water through soil is a surface effect across particles.

Waster must move from particle to particle, and voids need to fill up in each strata before the water can move down to the next. You will frequently find stagnant water that has lost its free O2, thus becoming anaerobic.

The old idea of adding gravel to assits with drainage just makes the voids bigger, ir so I've read.
also when you have an homogenic boundary there is often compaction boundary that makes matters worse.

I watched a simple demo of this principle using clay pots and various soil types from coarse sand to clay. Because water movement through soil is primarily via capillary action the larger the gaps between particles the weaker the capillary forces and as such the slower the water movement. Gravel in pots to improve drainage has long been a favourite of garden "gurus" but simple science shows it to be a fallacy.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

A good way to show yourself is to get a big pickle jar (or the like) and fill it with a variety of different particle sized material. fill it half way with the disparate strata and then half with water and watch how long it takes to move to the bottom.

opcorn: