Oxygen to the roots source. Soil surface or drain hole?

[Mike Corazzi]

Just wondering. Don't think I've seen this discussed here. Or I missed it.
I would....assume.... the O2 from the soil surface would be much more than what comes from the drain hole.
Thinking being that the water would carry it through the root area.
But I'm not sure.

 

[rockm]

Just wondering. Don't think I've seen this discussed here. Or I missed it.
I would....assume.... the O2 from the soil surface would be much more than what comes from the drain hole.
Thinking being that the water would carry it through the root area.
But I'm not sure.

the way it works is watering from the top of the soil mass pulls air in as the water drains down and out of the drain hole on the bottom of the pot. This is an important function that exchanges air in the root mass with air in the environment. The drain hole is exactly as described. It is not meant to aerate the soil, only improve the function.

 

[cmeg1]

and if water is 68-75 it has the oxygen it needs too.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

…and flushes the heavier CO2 out of the media…

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

My drain holes aerate the soil too. They dry up faster than the center of the pot, this means that gas can diffuse / exchange.
If we'd put a pipe on the drain hole, going about a meter down, the bottom hole would lose that particular function but the pot would aerate even more from the top down due to the pulling vacuum the water would produce.

 

[roberthu]

the way it works is watering from the top of the soil mass pulls air in as the water drains down and out of the drain hole on the bottom of the pot. This is an important function that exchanges air in the root mass with air in the environment. The drain hole is exactly as described. It is not meant to aerate the soil, only improve the function.

In addition, when roots pull water from the soil and transport it to the leaves, air gets in the soil to fill the gap.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

It’s perhaps a bit more tricky perhaps…

So evaporation and transpiration pulling water out of the system, combined with capillary action… drawing the water upwards in the pot.

Roots off gassing CO2, filling gaps near the root… maybe slowly moving downwards.

Thinking there might be a bit of a vapor lock situation with the CO2 build up from the roots at the lower part of the media … given no wind… due to those weak london dispersion forces Johannes Diderik van der Waals first thought about.

Best
DSD sends

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