Conservers opening upward within a Protected Diffusion Zone:

• Preplacement of Upward Opening Conservers in Pouch - without danger of fertilizer settling into the surrounding pouched media during shipping or handling as might occur if the fertilizer is placed on the top surface of the media.
• Lengthen Diffusion Pathway - the diffusion distance will be the length of the Conserver plus the distance back down from the top of the Conserver to the bottom of the pouch.
• Lower Initial Fertilizer Concentration Around Plant Roots - because of the greater distance of the bottom-placed fertilizer in the upward opening-diffusing Conserver.
• Placement of individual fertilizer salts in individual Conservers - Interaction among salts and formation of insoluble compounds is avoided. Roots can proliferate and establish different uptake rates in different salt areas.

'PikRed' tomatoes in a "cooler" CIPS with a downward opening Conserver inserted through the plant collar into the root media.
	Plant collar has been removed to show the Conserver with fertilizer on top of the enclosed fertilizer diffusion plug inserted into the root media.
Roots grow vertically upward in the protected diffusion zone within the Conserver. The diffusion plug is cellulose acetate.
	Downward opening Conservers shield fertilizer in overhead sprinkler-irrigated, open containers.
Roots grow vertically upward in the downward opening fertilizer Conserver
	CHOICE: Plant roots proliferate within the upward opening fertilizer conservers within the pouched root media in CIPS. Calcium nitrate was in the left Conserver; potassium nitrate in the right Conserver. The diffusion plug in the Conserver is peat and vermiculite.