"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...
On 19 Nov 2002 20:36:25 GMT, (DaveDay34) wrote:

it? Osmosis will operate until all the soil is truly saturated.

Osmosis doesn't operate until all the soil is saturated.

You are both confusing osmosis with capillarity.
It's capillary attraction that causes a pot standing in 1/2" of
water to become waterlogged, not osmosis.
Rodger Whitlock

Fascinating stuff this and I think you are right Rodger :~))

Found the folllowing at various places :

Capillarity is the ability of a soil to draw water upward into tiny
spaces between soil grains; water moves upward against the force of
gravity because of the attraction between water molecules & the
surfaces of the soil particles.

osmosis :
http://www.tvdsb.on.ca/westmin/scien...ls/Osmosis.htm

And just to confuse the issue even more there is also reverse osmosis
.....http://www.howstuffworks.com/question29.htm

Jenny :~)