Addition of Pumice Affects Physical Properties of Soil Used for Container Grown Plants

Aeration of horticultural media is oft en reported to be a problem. The air filled porosity is generally considered as the quality determining factor for media and is generally determining the shape of the moisture characteristic curve. The objective of this study was to determine affects of different size and rate of pumice mixed with soil on the pore size distribution and bulk density of a mixture medium. Pumice of different size (100 μm diameter) were 98.2 % and 70.3 %, and the decreases in bulk density were 24.8 % and 21.0 % for soil I and II, respectively. While the mesopores (100-30 μm diameter), which are important for water conductivity, decreased significantly with pumice application in soil I, no significant changes were obtained for soil II. The amount of water held at 0.01 MPa – 0.10 MPa decreased significantly with 30 % or more pumice application in both soils. The amount of water held at 0.10 MPa or greater suctions decreased with pumice application. Significant changes in physical properties of soil-pumice mixture media were obtained for different sizes of pumice application

EFFECT OF PUMICE AMENDMENT ON PHYSICAL SOIL PROPERTIES AND STRAWBERRY PLANT GROWTH

We report the results of a research carried out in Turkey in 2004 to determine the effectiveness of different levels of pumice amendments to soil using strawberry plants. Two grades (2-4 mm and 4-8 mm) of pumice were added to soil and three amendment levels (15%, 30% and 45% by volume) were applied. Finally 6 different growing media types were formulated. The amount of moisture retained at different tensions and distribution of pore size of these growing media were determined. Some plant properties such as the number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry root weight, most developed root length and increasing fresh weight of day-notr strawberry plants cv. Fern grown on these media were determined. The best plant growth was observed on media including 4-8 mm pumice grade and 45% pumice amendment ratio with soil

EFFECT OF PUMICE AMENDMENT ON PHYSICAL SOIL PROPERTIES AND STRAWBERRY PLANT GROWTH

We report the results of a research carried out in Turkey in 2004 to determine the effectiveness of different levels of pumice amendments to soil using strawberry plants. Two grades (2-4 mm and 4-8 mm) of pumice were added to soil and three amendment levels (15%, 30% and 45% by volume) were applied. Finally 6 different growing media types were formulated. The amount of moisture retained at different tensions and distribution of pore size of these growing media were determined. Some plant properties such as the number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry root weight, most developed root length and increasing fresh weight of day-notr strawberry plants cv. Fern grown on these media were determined. The best plant growth was observed on media including 4-8 mm pumice grade and 45% pumice amendment ratio with soil