perched water tables...

Mortalis

Here goes.. several people on this board say perched water tables do not exist in a bonsai pot. Several say it does..

The truth of the matter is that they size of the water table is insignificant in a "good" soil mix. The following is the explanation of this and hopefully allows those who are of the more scientific mind and those of the more traditional mind to rest their arguments.

Take 2 clear plastic storage containers and drill a couple of holes in the bottom of each. Make them the same sizes and shape. Now fill those same containers with your soil mix. Put a drainage layer in 1 and not in the other. Place them on a level surface and water normally. Observe the bottom of the "pots" You will have a water table even if it is very small. Now do the same with a fine soil mix say 1/16 inch much smaller than the 1/4th-3/8ths you normally use correct? (If not try larger particles.. you plants will love you.)
You will notice that the water table is much greater in the fine particles than it was in your normal Bonsai soil.

You will note that the "drainage" layer has nothing to do with the fact that their is or is not a perched water table. What does effect this is the size and surface area of your soil particles. If the soil particles in your soil mix are large 1/4th-3/8ths inch there is not enough surface tension to support a perched water table of significant size to cause any trouble for your trees.

Basically if you use larger particles of soil it does not freakin matter if you use a drainage layer or not. Its up to you follow science or tradition it wont make much difference in the vigor of your trees.

Thanks

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