This document summarizes Jim Owen's approach to measuring and managing substrate properties for container production. Some key points include:
- Engineer substrates to balance water and air content while providing or retaining nutrients. The optimal balance depends on the season, with more water in summer and more air in winter.
- Measure physical properties like total porosity, air space, water holding capacity, and bulk density to characterize substrates. These properties can be affected by container size and shape.
- Common substrate components include bark, peat, coir, compost, and mineral aggregates. The properties of each component and how they blend together impact the final substrate.
18. Water will not move from small pores (fine texture) to large pores (coarse texture) until small pores are saturated. Small pores large pores Small pores (full) large pores Water movement X
49. Douglas Fir Bark Water Holding Capacity 27% 37% 45% - 65% Buamscha and Altland 50% 35% 10% - 30%
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52. Mineral aggregate Raw Clay Selection & Mining Primary Crusher Secondary Crusher Dryer (RVM) Mill Screen Rotary Kiln (LVM) Oil-Dri Corporation of America Bag or Bulk ≤ 800 °C ≈ 120°C
54. Mineral aggregate Shulze, D.G., 2002. An introduction to soil mineralogy. In: Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications SSSA Book Series no. 7.
55. Mineral Aggregate Montmorillonite Palygorskite Shulze, D.G., 2002. An introduction to soil mineralogy. In: Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications SSSA Book Series no. 7.
56. Amendment Montmorillonite Palygorskite Surface Area ≈ 90 m 2 /g CEC ≈ 100 cmol c kg Oil-Dri Corporation of America Clinoptilolite Surface Area ≈ 40 m 2 /g CEC ≈ 250 cmol c kg Surface Area ≈ 120 m 2 /g CEC ≈ 20 cmol c kg
57. Amendment Shulze, D.G., 2002. An introduction to soil mineralogy. In: Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications SSSA Book Series no. 7. Heating Dehydration Natural Occurring Low Volatile Material Palygorskite and Zeolite
58. Amendment Heating Dehydration Natural Occurring Low Volatile Material Shulze, D.G., 2002. An introduction to soil mineralogy. In: Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications SSSA Book Series no. 7. Montmorillonite