How Much Hardwood Bark Is Necessary for Proper Container-Soil Amendment?

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for determining how much hardwood bark is required for proper container soil amendment. This is traditionally accomplished by growing plants or measuring the physical properties of a series of bark-soil mixtures; the one exhibiting optimum growth or physical properties is than assumed to be the proper mixture. Since particle size distribution and shape vary between lots of hardwood bark, recommendations for its use as a container soil amendment based on empirical trials are valid only for the specific lot tested. To overcome this difficulty, simple mathematical and graphical methods for predicting total and aeration porosities of any bark-soil mixture from the individual porosities of the bark and soil were developed. These methods were demonstrated to be valid with three different hardwood bark-soil mixtures.

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