The Use of Dewpoint Hygrometry to Measure Low Water Potentials in Soilless Substrate Components and Composites

Plant water availability in soilless substrates is an important management consideration to maximize water efficiency for containerized crops. Changes in the characteristics (i.e., shrink) of these substrates at low water potential (<−1.0 MPa) when using a conventional pressure plate-base can reduce hydraulic connectivity between the plate and the substrate sample resulting in inaccurate measures of water retention. Soilless substrate components Sphagnum peatmoss, coconut coir, aged pine bark, shredded pine wood, pine wood chips, and two substrate composites were tested to determine the range of volumetric water content (VWC) of surface-bound water at water potentials between −1.0 to −2.0 MPa. Substrate water potentials were measured utilizing dewpoint hygrometry. The VWC for all components or composites was between 5% and 14%. These results were considerably lower compared to previous research (25% to 35% VWC) utilizing conventional pressure plate extraction techniques. This suggests that pressure plate measurements may overestimate this surface-bound water which is generally considered unavailable for plant uptake. This would result in underestimating available water by as much as 50%.