Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: field capacity

The field capacity of a soil is the amount of water held in the soil when percolation of water down through the soil has stopped. If you think of soil like a sponge, field capacity is like the amount of water the sponge can hold before some water starts to drip out.

In this simulation field capacity is input as a parameter for each soil layer. It is changed only when the proportion of rocks in the layer (particles bigger than sand particles) is changed. When the soil is mixed, the field capacity of some layers may change due to mixing of the soil particles. Wilting point, field capacity, and porosity are used extensively in the model as standards against which to compare the soil's current water content.