When I was writing this, the fire alarm went off, and my computer timed-out while I was standing in the parking lot in the rain. So if you saw this already, sorry. If you didn't, pity me for being soaking wet.

I wanted to explain why good air circulation is important to roots. As we learned in grade school, green tissues photosynthesize, fixing carbon dioxide into sugar, and releasing oxygen as a byproduct. This sugar is shunted to the roots, where it is store
d as starch. Roots aren't green, and they metabolize sugar the way we do: using oxygen. Although water contains oxygen, it can't carry as much as air, so water-logged roots will starve to death. [Although as long as air is present, oxygen will diffuse ou
t of water into air and feed the roots] When a plant pathologist tells you that soggy soil promotes root rot, it's not just because fungi like moist conditions. Starved roots are weaker and more susceptible to disease.

So how do plants deal with this in nature? Mostly it isn't a problem. Bald cypresses grow in stagnant swamps, and their "knees", which are hollow, are thought to aid in gas exchange. Plants like waterlilies, whose roots are entirely submerged, have air
channels in their roots.

So when you think of "soil", don't think of just the solid grains. Soil is a comples interface of solid, liquid, and gas.

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