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Some physical properties of pot-plant composts and their effect on plant growth

I. Bulky physical conditioners

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Summary

The effect of peat and grit on the physical properties of composts made from soils of different structural properties has been examined. Peat was beneficial in giving improved physical properties to the composts, better vegetative growth of tomato and Antirrhinum and also earlier flowering with tomato. It had, however, no significant effect on the total yield of tomato fruit. Peat also eliminated a sterilizing toxicity in a chalky boulder clay.

Measurement of macro-pore volume gave the best physical assessment of the mixtures with respect to vegetative growth, but the extent to which the improved growth was dependent on the physical property or to some inherent property of the peat has not been determined.

Grit was not such a good physical conditioner from either a plant growth or physical point of view as peat. The size of the grit over the range 0.5–1.0 to 3.0–5.0 mm did not cause any significant change in the physical properties of mixtures when used in the proportions 60 soil, 25 well-granulated peat, 15 grit.

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Author notes

  1. A. C. Bunt

    Present address: Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton, Sussex

Authors and Affiliations

  1. John Innes Horticultural Institution, Bayfordbury, Hertford

    A. C. Bunt

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  1. A. C. Bunt
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Bunt, A.C. Some physical properties of pot-plant composts and their effect on plant growth. Plant Soil 13, 322–332 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01394644

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01394644

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