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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Volume 20, Number 3 (1969) → An Improved Seedlings Root-Volume Measuring Device

An Improved Seedlings Root-Volume Measuring Device

A seedling root-volume measuring device has been exceedingly useful in our Forest Service research with sugar maple. The device, described by Austin,2 consists of a large plastic cylinder fitted with a screwcap on one end and a small calibrated tube on the other. When the device is partially filled with water, seedling roots are inserted into the cylinder, and the volume of water displaced is then read from the calibrated tube. However, we encountered several problems with the first volume-measuring device that we constructed. Regardless of the type of cap liner we used, the compression of the air trapped in the cylinder prevented a tight seal with a screwcap. Also, if the cap was not tightened to the same point each time, errors resulted from differences in displacement. Another problem-the greatest source of error encountered-was that some air bubbles remained trapped in the large cylinder when the device was inverted for reading. These bubbles tended to ding to the flat surface of the cylinder just below the reading column and vigorous shaking did not always completely eliminate them.


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Author(s): Harry W. Yawney, Clayton M. Carl, Jr.

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 20, Number 3 (1969)

Volume: 20

Number: 3