5.1

General Principles

5.1.7

Soil Moisture Content

While capillary action works in all soils it has an essential pre-requisite. It will only work when the background soil moisture content is greater than 43%. If the ground is drier than this - and this is often true in ground that has only been overhead watered previously - capillary action will not work immediately. If the hose is buried, this will show as wet spots on the surface of the trench area.

There is only one solution - to turn the hose on every 48 hours until the minimum moisture level is restored. This will need to be repeated until the background moisture levels have reached the 43% mark, and the spread of water is within the parameters for the soil type outlined in 5.1.4. The length of this process is purely a factor of how dry the soil was originally and whether or not it is a fine or coarse particle type.