Plant Available Water [2.0]

Updated by Travis Bates

IN THIS ARTICLE

Plant Available Water (PAW) refers to the amount of water in the soil that is accessible for plant uptake. It's a crucial concept in agriculture and horticulture for efficient water management. PAW is the difference between the soil's field capacity (the maximum amount of water the soil can hold after excess water has drained away) and the permanent wilting point (the point at which plants can no longer extract water from the soil).

AWC = FC - PWP

PAW = (VWC - PWP) / AWC

Setting the field capacity (FC) value defines the maximum amount of water soil can hold against gravity drainage. Setting the permanent wilting point (PWP) value defines the water content at which plants can no longer extract water from the soil. Plant available water (PAW) is expressed as a percent.

How do I determine field capacity and permanent wilting point?

Support

Plant Available Water can be calculated from any volumetric water content measurement.

  • TEROS 10
  • TEROS 11
  • TEROS 12
  • EC-5
  • 10HS
  • GS1
  • GS3

New PAW

  • On the    Data page, select    New Data.
  • Select Plant Available Water as the type.
  • Select one or more volumetric soil water content data sources.
  • Edit the data stream color.
  • Edit the data stream name.
  • Use the sliders to set the Permanent Wilting Point and Field Capacity values.
  • Select Create to finish.
  • The new data stream(s) will now be in your data list.

Plant available water

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