Compost Amendments to Soil to Improve Physical Properties for Plant Growth.

Soils located in post-construction zones are often highly compacted and thusly unable to provide adequate conditions for plant growth. This causes limited infiltration which can increase runoff rates after storm events. The hydraulic conductivity and plant available water content of a soil both indicate important soil physical characteristics that affect the ability to transmit water through the soil column and sustain plants. The varying textures of the soil as well as the root properties of plants will change these characteristics. In this study, species of wildflowers and grasses were grown in different compost to soil ratios to find the lowest amount of compost necessary to see improvements in soil hydraulic conductivity and plant available water content. Saturated hydraulic conductivity increased in soil mixes amended with as low as 6% compost. No effects were seen on plant cover.