How To Help A Tree To Survive Drought

Drought has become an increasingly common and severe problem across the United States.  In my own area of Indiana, we have seen three extremely dry summers, culminating in the truly impressive drought of 2012 in which multiple mature trees died, and almost all newly planted trees perished.  Much of the U.S. west of the Mississippi is still mired in drought.  So the question arises, under these dry circumstances, how do we help trees survive drought?

As mentioned, the trees that are most vulnerable to drought are those that are newly planted.  Most people have grown accustomed to buying fairly large (~6-8 foot in height) trees at local garden centers.  These trees are grown in pots, and usually have very thick secondary root systems, frequently circling the interior of the pot.

Even if planted using the best techniques (discussed below ), these roots will mostly grow laterally, staying near the surface.  This lateral growth allows them to absorb rain right after it falls, but also makes the roots very susceptible to drying out in periods of drought.  When rain is infrequent, the area closest to the top of the soil dries out first.  If all or almost all of the tree's roots lie in this top soil zone, then the tree can quickly dry out and die (or become more susceptible to other diseases like pests).  For this reason, it has long been advised that you water trees deeply yet infrequently, in an attempt to get these roots to grow more deeply.

In practice, store bought trees with such thick root balls can rarely have their roots redirected downward.  When you have a new, store bought tree, the best you can do is dig an appropriate hole (twice the width and one times the depth of the root ball) and make sure the tree stays watered when there is no rain.  An alternative is to use a watering bag like the TreeGator®, but these bags also need to be refilled by a human, not saving much effort but greatly increasing cost.  

Buying trees from garden centers often leads to disappointing results. According to Richard Harris, Professor of Environmental Horticulture at UC-Davis, "the smaller the plant when transplanted into the landscape, the better will be its relationship to the environment" (Kourik, 2008).  For this reason we recommend the method of planting detailed below.

A new and better way to grow trees that will be permanently drought resistant is to grow younger trees (saplings) that still have their primary (tap) root, and to grow these trees with the Groasis Waterboxx.  The Waterboxx is a deceptively simple invention.  It functions in multiple ways to ensure that tree roots grow downward, not laterally near the surface.  It does this by collecting dew and rain water and slowly channeling it to the taproot of the tree.  The slowly released water forms a column beneath the Waterboxx, and the trees roots will grow straight down within this water column.  "When it comes to moisture, roots are lazy.  They won't grow to a water source, but will grow where there is moisture."  (Kourik, 2008).   After this root growth, the Waterboxx can then be removed, leaving behind a tree with a deep taproot that has much better access to deep moisture in the soil.

As you can see in the video above from Groasis, the Waterboxx will make trees resistant to drought long term, thus allowing the landowner to conserve water.  If you are interested in purchasing the Waterboxx, please visit our parent website, Dew Harvest. We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments".


Kourik, R. (2008). Roots demystified: change your gardening habits to help roots thrive. Occidental California: Metamorphic Press.

Growing Grapes without Irrigation (and with the Groasis Waterboxx)

Wine is one of the hallmark beverages of civilization, and for most people drinking it is a everyday luxury.  However, rarely do we think about the amount of inputs that go into one bottle of wine.  Vineyards are frequently located in arid regions, and these vines are frequently irrigated.  The Economist recently published a piece about the amount of irrigation water that goes into making one liter of wine.  The result - approximately 950 liters of water go into every liter of wine, or over 700 liters of water per 0.75 liter bottle of wine.  This means over 175 gallons of water go to make less than one quart of wine.

Water shortage is unfortunately going to be one of the defining characteristics of the Twenty-First Century.  Surely there must be a better way to grow grapes than with traditional irrigation that wastes so much water.  Luckily, there is - The Groasis Waterboxx .  The Groasis Waterboxx is an ingenious invention by a Dutchman named Pieter Hoff.  The Waterboxx is a self-recharging water battery for trees - it collects dew water each night (and rain when it happens to fall), directs a small amount to the roots of a growing plant, in this case grape vines.  The roots grow deep to underground water, and the Waterboxx prevents evaporation of the moisture in the soil immediately around the grape vine.  In this way the Waterboxx greatly helps to conserve water.  The one year results of grape growing with the Waterboxx can be seen below.  The Waterboxx requires water only during initial set up.  The inventor recommends 8-12 gallons be slowly poured on the planting site, then 4 gallons be placed in the reservoir (green basin) to be slowly released.  You can learn more about the Waterboxx at our parent website, Dew Harvest. The incredible results of the Waterboxx in the desert, growing grapes, is seen below.  

Grape vines two months after planting with the Groasis Waterboxx. (Photo courtesy of Groasis.com)

The same grapes 4 months after planting with the Waterboxx; significant growth is already evident. (Photo courtesy of Groasis.com)

The vines continue to grow 6 months after planting.  (Photo courtesy of Groasis.com)

The same grape vines twelve months after planting.  The Waterboxxes were not refilled during this time, but collected dew and rainwater and funneled this to the roots of the growing plant.  The Waterboxx will stay in place indefinitely for these vines (it lasts up to 10 years), further assisting in watering of these grapes. (Photo courtesy of Groasis.com)

We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments". 

Sequoia From Planting Through Growth

Since we were a child, giant sequoia trees have held a great fascination for us.  Several years ago, we saw some giant sequoia trees in small containers at our local botanical garden, and decided to try to grow them.  They grew fairly well potted inside our apartment, but each and every one died during transplanting outside.  Even with frequent watering, the roots seemed to dry out and we were left with a dead tree.  This continued for several unsuccessful attempts, that is until we planted our first tree with a device we read about online - the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon.  We planted this tree with the Waterboxx, watered it once, and never watered it again.  The tree not only survived, but thrived, and is now growing without the Waterboxx or any other intervention.  

We wanted to make sure this success wasn't a fluke, so decided to plant another sequoia, this time somewhat farther to the south, and transplanted at an earlier age.  Below, you can see the results of this test planting.  

The following photos will document the whole growth of a sequoia from its initial planting outside to removal of the Waterboxx.

A small sequoia barely sticks out of  the central opening of the Waterboxx on July 3, 2013, the day of its planting.

The same sequoia on August 24, 2013.  Already after 6 weeks you can see significant growth with even the limited light reaching the central opening.  It has not rained for approximately 2 weeks as of this photo.   

As the sequoia was so small initially, it had a great deal of trouble getting enough sunlight for rapid growth.  However, as more of the sequoia needles reached above the Waterboxx lid, the sequoia began to grow more rapidly.  Remember, we never added any water to the sequoia or the Waterboxx after planting.

Here you see the approximately doubled in size Sequoia on September 7, 2014 (with some dried grass on the Waterboxx lid).

The same sequoia on August 13, 2015.  This tree has dramatically filled out, and we will be able to remove the Waterboxx PlantCocoon after the winter.  The tree will then be able to grow without watering due to its deep, Waterboxx induced root system.

As long as the central dumbbell shaped opening is oriented along an East-West Axis, then the seed or small tree will get enough light to grow.  The Waterboxx cost $7 million dollars to develop, and works so well because of its multiple ingenious features.  It funnels dew into the central basin, and then allows that to drip to the roots of  a growing plant.  You can buy the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon here..  We buy our giant sequoias from Giant-Sequoia.com.  We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments".

Grow the Celebrity Tomatoes You Crave in a Container

How would you like to grow large, juicy, and delicious celebrity tomatoes in your garden? What if I told you that you could grow these tomatoes without even owing a yard? That’s right - by using a container garden. But there are a handful of things you’ll need to remember to ensure you have a great harvest of tomatoes… Celebrity tomatoes are determinate. This means that they’re the short, bushy type. Quite a good choice for containers, actually. For starters, you needn’t worry about staking your tomato plants. But it also means that you’ll need a little more space for your tomato plants. Read on though, because with proper pruning, you won’t even notice this extra space requirement. Firstly, let’s talk about how to choose the correct container size for your celebrity tomatoes. Keep in mind that these tomatoes can grow to quite a large size, so I suggest that you either use a large growing pot, or grow just a single tomato plant per container. Either way, the major consideration here is to give your tomato plants sufficient growing space. In order to grow large celebrity tomatoes, add a modest amount of nutrients to your plants diet. This can be in the form of some extra organic compost, or even a liquid based fertilizer. A liquid based fertilizer is easier to use, seeing that you can determine the required dosage from the instructions on the label. Organic compost does have the ‘all natural’ actor though, and that may play a role in your decision making. Either way, use a good fertilizer! It’s pointless having your celebrity tomatoes growing large but being completely bitter. Sunshine can help a great deal here. Ensure that your tomatoes receive a. if you’re growing your celebrity tomatoes in a container garden; try to place the container in a spot that receives a good sunshine for most of the day. On this note, you can allow your tomatoes to ripen on the tomato bush for a while, abut then pluck them and allow them to ripen in the sunshine. Since celebrity tomatoes are naturally quite bushy, you need to prune your plants sufficiently to ensure that they take up less space, and to increase the amount of nutrients available to the rest of the plant. Prune off extra stems and leaves that simply take up space and waste nutrients. This way, your tomato bush will more compact, and the fruit it produces will grow larger and to better health. Celebrity tomatoes can grow to quite a large size, and they can be grown in large containers if you don’t have a full sized backyard garden. Just ensure that you give each tomato plant enough space to grow well, and that you add a good helping of nutrients to their diets.

Sequoia Progress in Indiana with the Groasis Waterboxx

We have always been interested in big trees, and have planted several (4) Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) outside where we live in Indiana, only to see all of them die.  When we started Dew Harvest® LLC, we decided to use one Groasis Waterboxx to plant a Giant Sequoia, hoping that the Waterboxx would overcome the dry Indiana summers that killed my previous 4 trees.  The Sequoia is very water loving, and does not tolerate long periods of drought.  Below you see pictures of both the Sequoia immediately after planting in mid May and progress since then 6 weeks later (for reference, the lid of the Waterboxx is 20 inches in diameter).

The Sequoia seen laterally at initial planting (again approximately 2 years old).  Some brown is evident from winter die back.

Sequoia after 6 weeks growth with the Waterboxx (almost doubled in size) while the grass around the Sequoia has died back from lack of rain.  No water was added to the Waterboxx except that added by dew and rain naturally.  Note: Orientation of photo is flipped 180 degrees as evidenced by blue cap in Waterboxx lid position.  The lighter blue green color is indicative of new growth.

The Sequoia after 6 weeks with the Waterboxx (approximately doubled in size in 6 weeks, after 2  years of slow growth).  Again, the  grass around the Groasis Waterboxx is dying back from lack of consistent rainfall.  Again, the lighter blue green is new growth, and no brown is evident.

The Sequoia after approximately 2 months, continues growing in height as well as width.  The large amount of light green indicates the rate at which the tree is growing.  The box will be left on over winter, as it provides a blanket of water which will only slowly change temperatures and protect the base of the Sequoia from drying out.  The design of the Waterboxx means that it will not break when the water in it freezes, but may loosen the lid (the ice will expand upward, not outward).

Sequoia after approximately 2 months of growth with the Waterboxx and no external watering (no water has been added to the box except dew and rain, which have kept the box completely full).  You can see that the surrounding grass continues to die back from lack of water, but the irrigating and cooling effects of the Waterboxx keep the sequoia growing without any browning.  This tree will soon be able to grow on its own, but we will leave the Waterboxx on it over winter to prevent the drying winter winds from killing the young tree.

The water level is only down approximately 1 cm (in a ~25 cm high basin) after one whole month with less than 1 inch of rainfall.  The morning dew is funneled into the basin, and this prevents the basin from emptying even though it continues to water the healthy growing tree (Photo from August 28,2013)

The Sequioa 3 months after initial planting with the Waterboxx.  The tree remains green even though the surrounding grass has died from lack of rainfall.  

Besides a very dry summer, we had the harshest winter in living memory.  Just as the Waterboxx provides consistent sustaining water in the summer drought, its basin protects the trunk of the tree from drying winds.  The image below shows the Waterboxx on January 10, 2014, during the Polar Vortex (with temps down to -13 degrees Fahrenheit).  

As you can see, the Waterboxx is wonderfully effective at growing water loving trees (or trees in dry areas) even if there is not enough water to sustain such plants as grass.  The Waterboxx accomplishes this by storing dew, collected almost every night, in its basin and slowly releasing it through a wick into the soil below.  The basin serves as a type of plastic mulch, preventing evaporation of the water during the day.  The Waterboxx will need to be removed before the Sequoia is too large to fit through the central opening, which will likely be next spring.  The Waterboxx can stay around the tree overwinter, and will not break if the water inside it freezes.  In this way, it will also form a blanket for the Sequoia, which is susceptible to drying winds (most experts advise burying the Sequoia in straw in the winter). 

The images above show the health, size, and continuing growth of the Sequoia in the late spring, approximately one month following removal of the Waterboxx.  The Sequoia generally browns out in early spring (see brown above) only to add significant new growth later that same season.  The Sequoia is now ~2 feet tall (23 inches) and about 20 inches wide in this photo.

This photo was taken on July 18, 2014, 3 months after Waterboxx removal.  This Sequoia has not had any irrigation or artificial watering of any type (it did have a pan around it, not shown in this picture, to funnel water to the base).  It is now almost 30 inches wide and about as tall.  It clearly will survive now due to the deep Waterboxx induced roots.  

The Sequoia is seen above on October 4, 2014.  Here you can see it is over one yard tall now (about 38 inches in total height.  It has continued to have new growth throughout the late summer.  

Growing up in Indiana (where the tallest tree is rarely 100 feet tall), the author became intrigued with the idea of Sequoias that can grow 300 feet tall and live for thousands of years.  We were disappointed with our consistent failure to establish one of these trees - until we tried the Waterboxx.  We now hope to be able to establish small woods with Sequoias, sequestering carbon and adding incredible beauty to our Hoosier landscape.  

Be the first in your area to start growing trees (including perhaps Sequoias) with the Groasis Waterboxx. As always, you can learn more about the Groasis Waterboxx and buy one (or several) at Dew Harvest® LLC.  

You can see all our blog posts about planting trees with the Waterboxx here. We buy our Sequoias from our friend Joe Welker at Giant-Sequoia.com.  We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments". 

Hellloooo

It has been ages, simply ages - but better late than never for a quick update. I've been busy teaching and studying, so there's been little time to garden, let alone write. I've stolen a few minutes away from the marking to make a quick harvest and an even quicker update.

We just harvested 2kgs of Jerusalem artichokes. Yes that's 2 KILOS! That's once the dirt had been washed away too. Amazing and all from just one pot. We're going to make gnocchi from some tonight, and roast the others up with dinner later this week. Delicious.

Kale, Silverbeet, lettuce and spinach are all growing well in this chilly winter weather.

Over the summer we harvested a metric tonne of tomatoes, and are already planning the Spring tomato garden.

I'll try and post more often, I promise :)

Replant the Earth!

Replant the Earth!!!

Welcome to the Arid Arborist by Dew Harvest

This blog will be devoted to efforts to grow trees and other plants using a ingenious device called the Groasis Waterboxx.  The Waterboxx was developed in Holland by a man (Pieter Hoff) who wanted to replant the Earth with trees, scrubbing our air of carbon dioxide and stopping the seemingly unstoppable creep of the desert.  The author's goal is much more modest, namely to plant trees wisely using the Waterboxx and to document both our results and those of customers of Dew Harvest® LLC (where the Waterboxx is sold in the U.S.).  Living in the Midwest, we have seen the worst drought in anyone's memory the last 3 summers, which is deeply troublesome to us.  A large number (perhaps 10%) of the mature inner city trees have died from this drought, with almost all newly planted trees suffering and many dying. To us, the only option to deal with the consequences of this drought (if you want to prevent a descending spiral of dead trees leading to lack of shade and less humidity leading to worse heat leading to dead trees . . . ) is to plant trees the way nature intended with the Groasis Waterboxx.

The Waterboxx with an oak, grown from seed.  The oak has been planted in Northern Indiana with the Waterboxx and continues to grow.

Since the founding of Dew Harvest and launching of this blog, we have had great success growing trees (from dwarf pear trees to Giant Sequoia) to growing vegetables like pumpkins.  

The Groasis Waterboxx is deceptively simple looking, but relies on many natural principles.  These are explained in the video below.

  

Be the first in your area to start growing plants with the Groasis Waterboxx.  If you would like to learn more about the Waterboxx, read our other posts or visit the main Dew Harvest® website.  

You can see all our blog posts about planting trees with the Waterboxx here. We would love to hear your comments below - to leave one, please click on "Comments".