The objective of a recent study published in HortScience was to quantify the sorptive effects on substrate wettability and water-holding capacity. Inferences into the effectiveness of the substrate to capture water have been difficult to demonstrate statistically. To assist in this, researchers used a monomolecular exponential model to quantify water holding capacity and the irrigation volume required to reach that capacity. Because the wetting behavior of peat can be greatly affected by hydrophobicity, a second objective was to determine the effectiveness of hydrophilic coconut coir in mitigating the initial hydrophobicity of a peat substrate.
