Impact of Mulch on Water Loss from a Container Substrate and Native Soil

Edward F. Gilman; Richard C. Beeson; Dustin Meador

doi:10.48044/jauf.2012.004

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Table 1.

Daily water loss and daily evaporation from mulched and non-mulched 360 L lysimeters filled with substrate or soil following application of 60 L irrigation at day zero.

Lysimeter contents/surface treatment	Daily water loss and (daily evaporation) in liters
Lysimeter contents/surface treatment	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Substrate-filled^{^z}
Mulched surface	18.5 (2.0)^{^y} a^{^x}	2.0 (0.5) b	1.0 (0.5)b
Non-mulched surface	17.5 (1.0) b	2.5 (1.0) a	2.0 (1.0) a
Soil-filled^{^z}
Mulched surface	21.0 (0.5) a	3.0 (1.0) a	2.0 (0.5) a
Non-mulched surface	21.5 (1.0) a	3.5 (1.5) a	2.0 (0.5) a

↵^zSubstrate = bark:peat:sand substrate used in nursery containers, study conducted spring 2007; soil = fine sand native soil, study conducted autumn 2007.
↵^yDaily evaporation (in parentheses) calculated as daily water loss from open lysimeters minus mean daily water loss from four covered control lysimeters.
↵^xDaily evaporation means, within a lysimeter content, in a column with a different letter are statistically different at P < 0.05. Means based on nine replication lysimeters averaged across four dry-down period blocks.