INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR

SOILLESS CULTURE ISOSC

DRIPANDDRAINAGESYSTEMSFORR0CKW0OLCULTURESIN
RELATIONTOACCUMULATIONANDLEACHINGOFSALTS

M.vanNoordwijkandP.A.C.Raats
Reprint from

PROCEEDINGS
FIFTH INTERNATIONALCONGRESSONSOILLESSCULTURE

WAGENINGEN 1980

pp279-288

SECRETARIAT:
P.O.BOX 52, 6700AB WAGENINGEN, THENETHERLANDS

(
j ISOSC Proaeedings 1980 279

DRIP AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS FOR ROCKWOOL CULTURES IN RELATION TO

ACCUMULATION AND LEACHING OF SALTS

M. v a n N o o r d w i j k and P . A . C . R a a t s , The N e t h e r l a n d s

INTRODUCTION

Rockwool i s an a r t i f i c i a l medium c o n s i s t i n g of t h r e a d s o f 0 . 0 5 mm
and h a v i n g a p o r o s i t y o f a b o u t 96% ( J ^ r g e n s e n , 1 9 7 5 ) . The d e p e n d e n -
c i e s of p r e s s u r e h e a d , h y d r a u l i c c o n d u c t i v i t y , and g a s d i f f u s i o n
c o e f f i c i e n t upon w a t e r c o n t e n t w e r e m e a s u r e d b y W i l l u m s e n ( 1 9 7 2 ;
see Fig. 1).

I l S i - i i FJîY§i£§l_EE2Eerties_gf_rgçkwool

Pressure Head(cm
-100
Hydraulic conductivity (cm.day-')
-80 1000r

-60

-40

-20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100%
v o l u m e t r i c w a t e r content volumetric water content

Diffusion coefficient (10 3 .cm 2 .day - ')

20 40 60 »0 100%
volumetric air content
280 NOORDWIJK et al. Drip and drainage

Towet rockwool thepressure head mustbe increased tonear the

atmospheric reference pressure head. During drying the decrease of
the pressure head ismore gradual.'Thehydraulic conductivity de-
creases rapidly with decreasingwater content,particularly below
30%.
The commonmat thickness of 7.5 cmprovides areasonable balance
of adequate water supply and aeration.For tomatoes and cucumbers,
growers usemats that are 7.5 cmhigh and 30cmwide,with the
plants 45 cm apart (Sonneveld, 1980). Thevolume of substrate per
plant is thenabout 101. Thiswill provide amaximum of 71
available water,which is atbest enough for2 sunny days. Inprac-
tice,water and nutrients are supplied 3to5 times per day.Accu-
mulation of salts in themats canbe avoidedbybalancing the sup-
plies ofwater and nutrients aswell aspossible to the demands by
theplants and by providing excesswater for leaching (Raats, 1980).
This is a difficult task and in theNetherlands growers are advised
to regularly monitor the composition of the nutrient solution in
the mats: pH and EC twice everyweek,major elements twice every
month, and minor elements onceeverymonth.Whenever,as aresult of
discrepancies between the compositions of supply and demand, excess
soluteshave accumulated, extrawater for leaching should be provided.
The distribution of the accumulated saltswill depend on the amounts
ofwater,nutrients,and impurities supplied,on the distribution of
the root activity, and on the flowpatternbetween drippers and
drainage outlets and the degree of dispersion in themat.The flow
pattern and the dispersionwill also determine theefficiency of the
removal of salts by leachingwith water inexcess of the demand by
évapotranspiration.Within limits the flowpattern canbe optimized
by suitable placing of drippers near theplants,and of drainage slits
in theplastic underneath and along the sides of themats. The impor-
tance of flowpatterns inassessing accumulation and removal of salts
iswellknown,on a small scale for drip irrigation (Hoffman, 1976)
andon a large scale inarid zone irrigated regions (Raats, 1978).
Thepurpose of this paper is topresent some dataon the accumula-
tion of salts and theirremovalby leaching.For amore detailed dis-
cussion of these and related experiments the reader should consult
three reports by VanNoordwijk (1978, 1979)andVanNoordwijk and
Raats (1980).

EXAMPLE OF DISTRIBUTIONS OFELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (EC),pH,AND ROOT

SURFACE AREA

Figure 2shows somemeasurements of EC,pH,and root surface

area in an experimentwith tomatoes at the Institute of Agricultural
Engineering atWageningen, TheNetherlands.The sampleswere taken
after a sunny period in Junewhen theplantswere infull production.

I
ISOSC Proceedings 1980 281

Figure 2a shows t h a t on t h a t day the s a l i n i t y i n the mat ranged from

1.3 to 3.1 d S/m (roughly 0.355 dS/m corresponded to an osmotic p r e s s u r e
of 100 k P ) . After a l e s s sunny p e r i o d i n August, when the p l a n t s were
i n e a r l y senescence, the s a l i n i t y i n a wet mat was everywhere i n the
range of 1.7 to 2.3dS/mand for a dry mat everywhere i n the range of
1.5 to 2 . 3 d S / m , i n both mats mostly i n the i n t e r v a l 1.9 - 2.1 d S/m.
F i g . 2b shows t h a t the pH ranges from 5.6 to 7 . 4 , with the h i g h e s t
values i n the "dead zone" between the e m i t t e r s . F i g . 2c shows t h a t
the r o o t surface a r e a decreases towards the bottom of the mat and i s
l a r g e s t n e a r the base of the p l a n t stem. The rockwool could be washed
out a f t e r breaking the bonds between the threads with a 1.8% s o l u t i o n
of h y d r o c h l o r i c acid (Brouwer and Van Noordwijk, 1978). Some examples
of i n t a c t r o o t systems are shown i n Figure 3 .

Fig..2 Distributions of E C,pH,and root

surface area
a.Electrical conductivity in dS/m

b. pH

c. Root surface in cm 2 /cm 3

^
srp
C5
w/ ^VTV . • w^ •oo ;>w
w ^*^ $M ^yj
vV-J , \ V

Legend:

C •y x K V ^ s w j w a i s i « j i B f c » a a
1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9 3.1 d S/m
4.7 5.0 5.3 5.6 5.9 &.2 6.5 6.8 7.1 7.4 pH
.25 .5 1.0 2.0 4.0 8.0 16.0 cm2/cm3
282 NOORDWIJK et al. Drip and drainage

Fig. 3.View of theroot system,washed out on apinboard. The roots

I L
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

LEACHING OFACCUMULATED SOLUTES

The efficiency of leaching depends strongly on the location ofdrip-

pers and drainage slits.Some aspects of thiswere simulated in the
laboratory.Water coloredwith a dye (safranine)was dripped in the
middle of a strip ofrockwool50 cmlong.5 cmwide,and 7cmhigh.
Plastic was placed underneath and,with theexception of drainage
slits,along the sides toaheightof 1cm.The interfacebetween the
water originally present in themat and the dyedwaterwas clearly

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ISOSC Proceedings 1980 283

v i s i b l e . The e f f l u e n t was c o l l e c t e d and the c o n c e n t r a t i o n of s a f r a n i n e

was measured. Three s i t u a t i o n s were compared; the r e s u l t i n g i n t e r f a c e s 1
a t successive times are shown i n Figure A.

F i g ^ _ 4 i Successiye_jly^_fronts_for_three_çases i _The_arE2H§._äe22£e_£he
^ïï:EPëE2_a2^_JÈÎiê_^ïaiS§EË_2iJ£ië£S^._ïlîe_DH!?^Ëï§ 2B_£!2Ê_fE2S£s
£2EI2ËE2si_£2_t^Ê_§2?2HSt_2l_ w atS£_i2lil£l§ïêii_Ë25Eï2Sgë^_i5
a_fraction_of_the_water_capacity

Initially saturated

Initially partially saturated (approximately 52%)

Initially saturated

^cy
The interfaces remained quite sharp,i.e.,piston displacement occur-
red. Theelliptical shape is causedby the spreading in theblock of
rockwool on top of themat and the fact that the layered structure of
the mat implies that thehydraulic conductivity is larger in thehor-
izontal direction than in thevertical direction (VanNoordwijk, 1979).
Figures 4aandb show that a gradually increasing tilt of the inter-
face and somepreferential movement ofwaterbetween themat and the
plastic underneath caused drainage of dyedwater longbefore all the
water originally present in thematwas displaced by dyedwater.
Figure 4b shows that inamatwhich is initially partially saturated,
 m
1
284 NOORDWIJK et al. Drip and drainage

the e a r l y spread of the dyed water i s r a p i d , but t h a t t h e "dead c o r -

n e r s " p e r s i s t for a long t i m e . Figure 4c shows t h a t a s h o r t - c i r c u i t
between d r i p p e r and drainage o u t l e t l e a d s to i n e f f i c i e n t l e a c h i n g .
On the b a s i s of a g e n e r a l t h e o r y f o r m u l t i d i m e n s i o n a l , convective
t r a n s p o r t of s o l u t e s by s t e a d y f l o w s , one can i n f e r how much of the
water i n i t i a l l y p r e s e n t i n the mât i s s t i l l p r e s e n t i n the mat a f t e r
;Î given inflow ( R a a t s , 1978). Figure 5 shows t h r e e curves c o r r e s p o n -
ding to the t h r e e l e a c h i n g p a t t e r n s shown i n F i g . 4 .

t n e
r i c ^ _ 5 j : tÊ2£liiDc_êlfi£iÊ2£iêË_£2IlË5E2S^i5S_£° three patterns
shown in Figure 4.

amount ofwafer not yet leached,expressed

as a f r a c t i o n of the water capacity
1.00

080-

"0 02 0.4 0:6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

amountofwaterinfiltrated,expressedas
afractionofthewatercapacity

Curve asnows that after aninflow equaltothetotal amountofwater

initially presentinthematonly 12%ofthewater initially present
in themathasnotyetbeen leached out.Curvebshows thatinthe
initially partially saturatedmatoutflow only starts after adding
30%ofthewater capacity.Note that afteradding 120%ofthewater
capacity,more oftheinitiallypresent water remains incaseb than
in case a.Curvecshows thatwith thedrainage outlet directly
underneath theemitter thedyedwater starts toappear already after
adding 20%ofthewater capacity andthatafter adding50%ofthe
water capacity almostnofurther leachingofthewater initially pre-
sentinthematoccurs.
To complement themeasurements reported above for thenarrowmat,
the infiltration ofasafranine solutionwasrepeatedinamatof
regular size.After adding 170%ofthewater capacity%thematwas
cutinsectionsof10cmeach.Thesafranine frontsareshownin
Figure6.

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ISOSC Proceedings 1980 285

F i S i _ 6 i 2§tailed_view_of the_distribution_of_the_infiltrated_water
in a mat.

dripp

afvoer
drainage
outlet

The upperpart ofthematremained quite dryandwascolored with

safranine only directly around theemitter.Near thedrainage outlet
the dyedwaterhadinvaded only abouthalf thewidth ofthemat.

CONCLUSION

Inrockwool culture accumulation ofexcess salt isnotuncommon.It

canbeavoidedbyregular monitoring and,whenever necessary, taking
corrective actions.Asaresultofthequite uniformpore size,the
degreeofdispersion inrockwool issmall.Theefficiency ofleaching
286 NOORDWIJK et al. Drip and drainage

dependsmainly on the relative placement ofdrippers and drainage

outlets.

LITERATURE

Brouwer,G. and M. vanNoordwijk (1978).

Hetmet zoutzuur vrijspoelen vanwortels uit steenwol enhet
effect daarvan ophetwortelgewicht (Separation of roots from
rockwoolbymeans ofwashingwithHCl,and theeffect thereof
on root weight).
Inst. Bodemvruchtbaarheid, Rapp.4-78 11pp.

Hoffman,G.J. (1976).
Salinity managementwith drip irrigation.
Drip/Trickle IrrigationJ_,14-18,22.

J^rgensen,E. (1975).
"Grodan" stonewool asmedium forpropagation andculture.
ActaHort.54.137-141.

VanNoordwijk,M. (1978).
Zoutophoping enbewortelingbij de teeltvan tomatenop steen-
wol. (Distribution of salts and root development in the culture
of tomatoes on rockwool).
Inst. Bodemvruchtbaarheid, Rapp. 3-78,21pp.
VanNoordwijk,M. (1979).
Fysische en chemische eigenschappen van steenwol als substraat
voor plantenteelt zonder aarde. (Physical and chemical proper-
ties of rockwool as a substrate for soilless culture).
Inst. Bodemvruchtbaarheid, Nota 73,25pp.

Van Noordwijk,M. and P.A.C.Raats (1980).

Zoutophoping en -uitspoeling insamenhang methet druppelsysteem
bij de teeltop steenwol. (The influence of the drip system upon
the accumulation and leaching of salts inrockwool culture).
Inst.Bodemvruchtbaarheid, Rapp. (Inpress)

Raats,P.A.C. (1978).
Convective transport of solutesby steady flows.I General
theory,and IISpecific flowproblems.
AgriculturalWaterManagement, 1, 201-232

Raats,P.A.C. (1980).
The supply ofwater andnutrients insoilless culture.
5th International Congress on Soilless Culture.

f
ISOSC Proceedings 1980 287

Sonneveld,C. (1980).
Growing cucumbersandtomatoesonrockwool.
5th International CongressonSoilless Culture.

Willumsen,J. (1972).
Vandretention,vandbevaegelse ogiltdiffusion iinaktive
rodmedier (Water retention,watermovement,andoxygen diffusion
ininert root media).
Tiddsskrift forPlanteavl.76,570-580.

SUMMARY

In rockwool culture excess supply of nutrient and lack of sufficient

leaching can rapidly lead to localized accumulations of salts. Such
accumulations could limit root growth and depress yields. Excessive
accumulation of solutes in the mat can, even under the best circum-
stances, only be avoided by regular monitoring the composition of
the nutrient solution in the mat and, whenever necessary, taking
corrective actions. Experiments with water, colored with dye, showed
that, as a result of the quite uniform pore size, the degree of
dispersion in rockwool is small. Therefore, the efficiency of
leaching accumulated salts will mainly depend on the relative place-
ment of drippers and drainage outlets.