Cone penetrometers are fairly simple to construct in a sho
Dear Sarah,
Cone penetrometers are fairly simple to construct in a shop, at La jornada web
page they have a link to a paper by Hendricks from a soil science paper (I
think) that has instructions on building one, the down side is that you need a
soil at field capacity ( not my case usually).
<font face="arial black">Abraham de Alba Avila</font>
<font color="#00bf60">Terrestrial Plant Ecology</font>
<font color="#00bf60">INIFAP-Ags</font>
<font color="#00bf60">Ap. postal 20,</font>
<font color="#00bf60">Pabellón Arteaga, 20660</font>
<font color="#00bf60">Aguascalientes, MEXICO</font>
Tel: (465) 95-801-67, & 801-86 ext. 118, FAX ext 102
alternate: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
cel: 449-157-7070
----- Original Message ----
From: Sarah E. Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 1:26:43 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Penetrometers (Pesola Spring Scales??)
Our lab is looking for reasonably-priced and transportable equipment to
measure soil and leaf properties. We need a soil penetrometer and would
also like to measure leaf toughness (i.e., tensile strength and
potentially penetration force). This doesn’t have to all come from one
piece of equipment, but we are looking into the Pesola® Macro-Line Spring
Scales with pressure set attachment.
Has anyone used the pressure set attachment on a spring scale to measure
soil compaction? We would love to know if it works and is reliable, or if
we need to purchase a soil penetrometer.
Also, we would love your thoughts on alternatives to expensive pre-made
instruments that can measure leaf toughness. We are experimenting with
simple weight-based (i.e., adding water until a leaf breaks) approaches.
Have any of you taken such an approach?
Many thanks!
Sarah Johnson
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