Project Number: 6631-13000-003-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jun 11, 2007
End Date: Jun 10, 2012

Objective:
Objective 1 - Determine soil physical and hydrological characteristics of containerized horticultural and floricultural production systems for development of on and off-site water quality decision support systems. Sub-objective 1.1 - Determine soil physical and hydrological characteristics of containerized horticultural and floricultural production systems. Sub-Objective 1.2 - Modify the USDA-EAHM to predict water balance, crop production, movement of water, and the transport of agricultural chemicals from containers used by horticultural and floricultural industries.

Approach:
Two soil mixtures with different bulk densities (light and heavy) that are commonly used in horticultural and floricultural nursery crops (citrus, foliage plants, potted flowering plants, nursery fruit crops, bedding plants, and cut flower) will be selected. Under the simulator, the hydraulic properties will be determined for each selected soil sample. The hydraulic properties include: infiltration capacity, infiltration rate, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities. The USDA-EAH model will be modified to simulate water balance and nutrients and pesticides movement from containers that are above ground. The new module will be linked with the original EAHM. The seepage from the new modeule will be input to the USDA-EAH model. In this study, the new module will be evaluated using the collected data from the containers. The single event version of the model will be tested given initial conditions that are measured on bare containers.