Re: CULT - Pot culture
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: CULT - Pot culture
- From: J* I* J* <j*@ix.netcom.com>
- Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 16:55:04 -0600 (MDT)
John Montgomery wrote:
>
> At 03:29 PM 9/17/97 -0600, John Jones wrote:
> >
> >Could someone please explain to me how it hampers drainage?
> >
> =============================================================
> The rate of drainage is directly proportional to the height of the column
> of water (this assumes that the medium in question is the same in each
> container).
>
> If you put an inch of junk in a pot 5" tall, as an example, you will have
> reduced it's drainage rate by about 20% and this may not be what you wish
> to have happen.
Consider a 4" pot with no junk in the bottom and your 5' pot with an
inch of junk in the bottom. According to your theory the drainage would
be the same. The drainage rate decreases over time because the column of
water gets shorter and shorter and would of course be asymtotic to zero.
IMHO I think the point generally of putting rock, broken shards of pots
etc. in the bottom of a pot is to provide a space for the water to drain
into, so the soil at the bottom is not soggy and does not suffocate the
roots, as well as keeping the soil from washing out.
If you want good flow thru, you need to add material to the soil that
keeps it from compacting as the water flows thru and washes the smaller
particles into the crevices.
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
John Jones, jijones@ix.netcom.com
Fremont CA, USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay)
Max high 95F/35C, Min Low 28F/-2C average 10 days each
Heavy clay base for my raised beds.
