markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
I think the key to maintaining air space is to make sure the particle size is uniform.
Back to the bucket of golf balls analogy. The air voids are the spaces between the golf balls.
Sand, if it is a fairly uniform particle size, even a fine sand will have a fair amount of air voids if the particle size is uniform.
If there is a range of particle sizes, the finer particles will fill the voids.
For myself, anything that goes through a peice of window screen is too fine to use. The components don't matter that much. Uniformity of particle size does.
Vance is right, what you use is not that important if you figure out what the watering frequency needs to be.
Soil permeability depends on three variables:
- Grain shape: Rounded grains will increase drainage and decrease water retention.
- Grain size: Larger average grain size will increase drainage and decrease water retention.
- Sorting: A more uniform grain size will increase drainage and water retention.
Scott