Growing Giant Sequoia Trees From Seed

Giant sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are the largest living things on Earth.   They can live for thousands of years, reach almost three hundred feet in height, resist droughts and forest fires. The single largest sequoia tree now living, General Sherman, has sequestered over a lifetime of carbon emissions by the average American.   What is more, giant sequoias can grow throughout much of the world in temperate regions, including most of the continental United States, so long as they have sufficient water (around 30 inches or 762 mm each year).  Sequoias are common in Britain, but are also in mainland Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada, and almost every state in the U.S.

Establishing sequoias is very difficult, and with trial and error you can expect years of frustration, even if you buy saplings rather than seeds. Even with saplings we didn't have any success establishing sequoias outside in the Midwest until we started using the Waterboxx PlantCocoon to grow sequoias for the first few years.  Since starting to use the Waterboxx PlantCocoon, we have had 100% success, detailed here and here.

As sequoias proved such fun to plant and are so beneficial to the environment, we wanted to know if we could grow sequoia trees from seed.  We had tried this before, but had very poor germination rates (around ~1%), and many of our trees that did germinate soon died.  We were determined to try again, but to follow the best advice available for growing these seeds.

Sequoia seeds are tiny - here is an average sized one on a fingertip before planting.  It is hardly believable that these become the largest living things on Earth.

We bought 500 giant sequoia seeds from MySeeds.co, on Amazon.com here (or more cheaply from their website here).  Sequoia seeds need a very specific process mimicking their natural environment to germinate (including a wet "fall" and cold "winter"), so we tried to replicate that in as short a period as possible.  To start, we laid our seeds on a paper towel and moistened them with water (distilled water for best results as it doesn't contain mold).

Seeds on July 16, 2015, right after getting them in the mail.  Our biggest problem was having the patience to not plant before "hardening" for a month in the fridge.  

We covered these seeds with another moist paper towel, and them put them on a portion of a paper plate.  We then put these in a clean, sealed plastic bag.  This simulated our wet "fall", in order to reawaken the seeds.  For our winter, we placed this plastic bag in the vegetable crisper in the fridge for 30 days.

After 30 days, we removed our seeds.  We started with 500 seeds, but given our poor germination rate before, we didn't expect most to produce anything.  We took about half of these seeds to be planted.  We set up a Cone-tainer rack filled with 98 soil holding cone-tainers (both available here).  We filled these full of potting soil.  For about half of the cone-tainers, we also added some vermiculite, which is excellent at holding moisture.  We then took the very small seeds, and added them to the top of the soil mixture.  For half of the cone-tainers, we used only one seed, and for the other half we used three to four.  We pushed the seeds down slightly into the soil, but we did not bury the seeds.

Our 98 Cone-tainers in a tray, with our seeds just planted, on August 18, 2015.  The vermiculite containing Cone-tainers are white on top.

We waited about two weeks, but didn't see any of the promised germination.  We thought that perhaps nights were getting too cool (sometimes into the upper 50s Fahrenheit), so we put a cold frame we had previously built over the sequoias seeds.

Within two days, we started to see germination of our tiny trees.  We did our best to keep the tiny seedling moist without over watering.

Tiny sequoia trees, just growing from seed on August 31, 2015

We had about 25% germination in our first round. We wanted to have a giant Sequoia tree growing from each Cone-Tainer, so we planted more seeds in each Cone-Tainer that didn't have one germinate.

We did have a few Cone-Tainers with more than two sequoias germinate. We wanted didn't want competition to hurt both sequoias, so we removed the smaller sequoia seedling so the larger could continue to grow unabated.  When we removed the smaller sequoia, what we found was astounding (to us, at least).  Giant sequoias send down a true tap root!   This is incredible, as many trees just send out shallow, lateral, fibrous roots.  This true tap root means sequoias can tap deep sources or water (like water held in capillary channels) as well as underground aquifers.  This means that sequoias will be able to withstand droughts very well.  This only makes sense as many sequoias have lived for three millennia, through many droughts, in California.

A tiny sequoia sapling, a little over a month (9/26/15) after planting, with a taproot over three times the length of the trunk.  These tap roots enable sequoias to survive very long periods without rain.

We are growing these sequoias from seed in Central Indiana, which has harsh winters, so we decided to move our saplings inside to a window sill over the Fall and Winter and provide a little artificial light to speed up growth.  There is a chance this may disrupt the seasonal rhythm of the plant, but we judged this risk as lower than the risk from the freezing.

The sequoias inside (all moved close to get the most light) on October 3, 2015.  We have had about a 33% germination rate so far - not bad for this very difficult to start tree.

We are very impressed that the eventual structure (and beautiful red trunk) has already begun to become evident.

A sequoia about 5 weeks old - we hope this sequoia is 10 inches tall by spring to it can be planted outside with the Waterboxx PlantCocoon.

At this point (October 6, 2015), we still have about 70% of our Cone-tainers without any sequoia seedlings.  This means our germination and survival rate has been somewhere around 15% (because we planted about two seeds per Cone-tainer, on average).  We want each Cone-tainer to have one sequoia, so we planted the most of the remaining seeds into the empty Cone-tainers.  We did save a few seeds just in case none germinated in some Cone-tainers.  

A sequoia at about 10 weeks - again perhaps doubled in size over the past 5 weeks.

By late November, we have planted all 500 seeds and have 50 living sequoia seedlings, for a germination rate of 10%.  As this is our second planting, and we had a germination and early survival rate of 0% previously, we are well pleased.  We are supplementing sunlight with full spectrum CFL light (purchased before full spectrum LEDs were available), and see the smaller sequoias grow ~5% per day - a very healthy growth rate indeed.

Our sequoia seedlings 4 months and 11 days after planting.  We still have 48 living sequoias, with two more lost to damping off.  Our tallest tree is about 3.5 inches, which should put us in range of the desired 10 inches by April with our continued artificial light.

Right now (late March 2016) we have had greatly decreased survival in the late spring.  We asked our friend Joe Welker of Giant-Sequoia.com why this was, and he believed it was because we grew indoors.  We are down to only 10 sequoias, hardly satisfying,

Our sequoias on March 29, 2016 - only 10 left.  We will try continue growing these but try again with a new crop of seeds in a few weeks - outdoors.  

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We plan to start a new crop in outdoors in early June.  The things we will change with this next crop:
1. We will plant using larger size cone-tainers
2. We will plant outdoors
3. We will use only distilled water initially to prevent fungal diseases causing "damping off"
4.  We will keep the sequoias outside all winter (but in a cold frame to prevent desiccation from the wind).

You can see our next trial (this time with 2000 sequoia seeds) here.


We hope to see these sequoias grow to the point they can be transplanted outdoors with the Waterboxx PlantCocoon®.  They will need to be about 10-15 inches tall at that time.  We are growing these sequoias for donation to a few growing partners in the South and Midwest - we will post those plantings online when pictures are available.

Our greater hope is to see giant sequoias planted on public and private property throughout the United States and rest of the world.  This tree grows so large, so fast, and lives so long, that it may be one of the few affordable ways to decrease carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, counteracting the problems caused by excessive carbon dioxide.

We will continue to update this post with our sequoia from seed progress.  We would love to hear your comments below.

If you would like to plant sequoias you already have outside, with the Waterboxx, you can buy a Waterboxx PlantCocoon here.

Plant Paw-Paw - Indiana Banana, America's First Fruit Tree

History can be capricious.  The phrase "American as apple pie" has entered the lexicon of most  Americans.  This is unfair.  The apple tree is derived from wild ancestors in Central Asia and Europe and is not truly an American fruit.  This is of course the American way - adopting and adapting ideas and foods from around the world.  However, most people in this country, who have tried everything from apple butter to apple pie, have never tried true American native fruit - the Paw Paw.

The Paw Paw tree, also known as 'Indiana Banana', Asiminia triloba, is the largest fruit native to the U.S.  It is rich in vitamin and energy content, good tasting, and grows in all or part of 26 states.  Paw paw is a valuable fruit in that it has all 20 essential amino acids or building blocks of protein.  Paw paw also has more vitamin C than banana (twice as much) or apples (three times as much).  It has more potassium than apples (3x) and orange (2x) and almost as much as bananas.  It also has markedly more calcium, magnesium, and iron than these other three fruits.

The paw paw fruit on the vine, from USDA

Paw paw fruit does not transport well fresh, and is only a peak taste for a few days.  It is for this reason primarily that it has never been commercialized.  When eaten fresh off the tree, however, the paw paw has a flavor that is something of a cross between banana, pineapple and mango.  Paw paw fruit can be substituted for banana in most recipes.   

Range of the Paw Paw Tree - most of the Eastern United States (from USGS)

Paw paw is relatively disease and insect resistant.  It is recommended that you buy grafted trees if you want sooner fruit production - our preferred source is Stark Brothers.   According to Sheri Crabtree, a paw paw expert at Kentucky State University, "Pawpaws do have a strong taproot and can be difficult to dig and transplant".  This tap root needs to be kept moist at almost all times, which requires near constant watering. This makes watering them almost daily essential right after planting.  This is not feasible for most home owners, however.  There is a device that may help, called the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon or Waterboxx for short.

The Waterboxx collects dew and rain, stores it in a four gallon reservoir, and slowly releases it to the roots beneath the growing tree.  It also prevents evaporation of soil moisture - allowing a "water column" to form immediately beneath the Waterboxx.  Tap roots are induced to grow straight down in this water column until the tree is well established.  The Waterboxx can then be removed and reused again.  This is all explained in the video below:

We hope to see our natural botanic heritage more appreciated in the future.  We hope you will consider planting a paw paw tree or three.  If you want to try planting with the Waterboxx, it is available here.  

We would love to read your comments below.

Breeding Strategies for Improving Shelf Life in Tomatoes

Tomato is one of many plants that have evolved an “edible fruit” strategy for seed dispersal.  Mature seed is encased in a fruit designed to be attractive for consumption by fruit eating animals.  Seed dispersal occurs when the consumed seed passes safely through the digestive tract and is deposited with feces on the soil some distance from the mother plant.  In tomato the fruit ripening process involves several steps designed to enhance attractiveness for consumption:  an increase in fruit sugars, acids and flavor-enhancing aromatic compounds that greatly improve tastiness of the fruit; fruit softening to a more edible texture; and obvious fruit pigmentation designed to signal to passing animals that the fruit is fully ripe and ready to eat.  These features were preserved during the domestication of tomato and the more recent development of tomato as one of the world’s most important fruit/vegetable crops.

One of the modern dilemmas in tomato production and breeding relates to managing post-harvest losses associated with the modern agricultural practice of concentrated fruit production in one area and fruit consumption in another place (and time).  Ripe fruit is easy to damage in transit and deteriorates relatively quickly.  Picking mature green (MG) fruit for shipment and gassing with ethylene at a distant delivery point to “ripen” the fruit solved the problem of damage in shipping, but comes with an unfortunate sacrifice in flavor.  As an alternative to this practice plant biologists and tomato breeders have looked at various genetic variants (mutations) in genes controlling the ripening process, and examined how these novel alleles might be deployed in the development of varieties with great flavor and enhanced shelf life.  In this post I’ve tried to summarize the current understanding of this field and share some of our related breeding efforts.

Tomato Fruit Development (from Alba et al., 2005)

 

The Ripening Process

Tomatoes are a climacteric fruit, which means that the plant hormone ethylene is required for fruit ripening.  Ethylene is rapidly produced in tomato fruit at the breaker (BK) stage and drives a series of reactions that together define the fruit ripening process.  During normal ripening there are simultaneous and independent processes that lead to 1) accumulation of sugars, organic acids and volatile organic compounds influencing flavor, 2) conversion of chloroplasts to chromoplasts and the synthesis and accumulation of carotenoid pigments and 3) softening of the fruit.  In a perfect modern tomato, ripening steps 1&2 proceed normally and step 3 proceeds at slow rate – allowing the tomato fruit to keep peak flavor, color and texture for an extended period of time.

ESL, or extended shelf life, is a term describing a collection of traits that together extend the potential time between picking of fully ripe or nearly fully ripe fruit, and the deterioration of fruit quality.  Fruit quality deterioration is usually associated with fruit softness/undesirable texture and fruit rotting.  Taste panels have identified fruit texture as an important determinant in consumer preference, and soft or mealy fruit is a major “turn-off”.  Deterioration in fruit firmness/texture is generally associated with a ripening related spike in polygalacturonase (PG) and other enzymes that degrade fruit cell wall polysaccharides. Thus, a decline in fruit firmness typically coincides with dissolution of the middle lamella and hemicellulosic/pectic cell wall polysaccharides, thereby undermining the polysaccharide network that hold cells together in the fruit pericarp.  FlavrSavr tomato, the commercially unsuccessful GE trait introduced by Calgene in 1985, was designed to specifically suppress PG activity in ripening tomatoes.  Recent research has also implicated cuticle composition and architecture as traits influencing ripening-induced fruit softening (Saladie et al. 2007 and Kosma et al. 2010).  The cuticle has long been implicated as a contributor to fruit strength, and cuticle structure changes during the ripening process.  Kosma et al, show that during the ripening process ESL mutants generally have cuticles with mechanical properties significantly different than the wild type – likely contributing to ESL per se.

It should be noted that independent of the several novel mutant alleles described below, there are significant genetic differences in firmness in tomatoes.  Unfortunately there are a couple of studies that report fruit firmness at harvest is not well correlated with the maintenance of fruit firmness postharvest.  We have found that pericarp thickness, relative to size of the locules, is a heritable trait that significantly impacts firmness per se, and appears in many cases to be associated with improved shelf life (see photos below).  This combination of traits is common in many newer commercial hybrids.

Firm when ripe phenotype

There are several mutations in key structural or regulatory tomato genes that affect the ripening process.  These genes generally either inhibit ethylene synthesis and/or modify ethylene’s downstream effects on specific biochemical processes related to fruit ripening.  To better understand climacteric fruit ripening per se, and to examine the potential utilization of these mutant alleles for delayed ripening/extended shelf life – tomato scientists have characterized several mutant alleles associated with a delayed ripening phenotype.  Several key ripening mutants are described in detail below.

Key genetic mutations affecting tomato fruit ripening

rin = ripening inhibitor.  The RIN gene is a transcription factor that acts as a master regulatory gene controlling numerous genes and pathways associated with tomato fruit ripening.  The rin loss of function mutant is a recessive allele that both represses genes associated with ethylene synthesis and modifies downstream processes associated with the normal ripening process.  Specifically rin modifies expression of other transcription factors associated with fruit ripening (e.g. NOR); prevents normal fruit pigmentation by suppressing synthesis of Phytoene synthase (PSY), the primary enzyme regulating flux into the carotenoid pathway (see Genetic Control of Fruit Color in Tomatoes); suppresses key steps in the accumulation of sugars, organic acids and aromatic compounds associated the improved flavor in ripe tomato fruit; suppress enzymes (e.g. polygalacturonase = “PG”) associated with breakdown of cell wall polysaccharides that lead to ripening-related fruit softening; and modifies cutin and fruit wax content and composition.   The rin/rin homozygote plant produces fruit that never fully ripen and have much firmer fruit with a significantly longer shelf life (see photo below).  The lack of normal color and flavor significantly limits commercial potential of rin/rin plants.  In the heterozygous condition rin/+ plants produce fruit with near normal fruit color and flavor, and shelf life that is intermediate between rin/rin and +/+ (wild type) plants. F1 hybrids with the rin/+ genotype and extended shelf life have been widely commercialized and are a key driver in the recent availability of “vine ripened” tomatoes in grocery stores.  The extended shelf life allows picking at or near the full ripe stage when flavor is near peak, and remaining firm for an extended period of time for shipping to distant locations.

We have been developing and testing new rin/rin inbreds and rin/+ hybrids for the last few years. 

Striped rin/rin cherry

Although rin/rin lines generally have very low fruit sugars, there are differences in sugar levels between rin/rin lines.  The sweetest rin/rin lines generally produce the sweetest rin/+ hybrids, though this is also heavily influenced by the non-rin parent in the hybrid.  Lycopene levels in rin/+ hybrids is a little lower than wild type (orange/red vs dark red), but normal red color can be restored in ogc/ogc crimson types (e.g. Mountain Magic).  Enhanced shelf life in rin/+ hybrids appears to be influenced by rin per se, but also on the genetic background of the rin and wild type parents, specifically those genes influencing fruit firmness.  Ripening is a little slower with rin/+ hybrids, adding perhaps 5-7 days.  We are making great progress on rin/+ hybrids and it appears possible to combine a significant improvement in shelf-life with exceptional flavor in fruit in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes. 

Fruit at BK +7 stage (7 days after breaker stage in the WT)

                      Wild Type                     rin/rin                        nor/nor

Photo by Martel, 2010

nor = non-ripening.  The NOR gene is an unrelated transcription factor that also serves as a master regulator of fruit ripening in tomato.  The recessive loss of function mutant allele nor has been widely studied.  The nor/nor homozygote has a very similar phenotype to rin/rin, and nor/+ hybrids also have much restored color and flavor with extended shelf-life – though reports in the literature suggest less color and flavor and longer shelf life in nor/+ relative to rin/+.  The specific mechanisms for modification of ripening in nor mutants is less understood than with rin – but like RIN, NOR helps regulate multiple genes and pathways important in tomato fruit ripening.  Commercial nor/+ hybrids have been commercially successful, though probably less so than rin/+.  Note that the next few mutants described here, alc and dfd, are thought to be allelic to nor (i.e. independent NOR mutants) with subtle but significant differences in ESL phenotypes.

alc = alcobaca.  The Spanish tomato landraces Alcobaca, Penjar and Tomàtiga de Ramellet are generally “long keeping” types with much delayed fruit deterioration.  These landraces have been selected for hundreds of years for local adaptation to a dry climate and for fruit that will have acceptable quality for months after harvest.  The photo below shows a typical fall/winter storage strategy employed in the region – fruit are hung in small bunches for medium term storage.  Note the term tomatiga de penjar means tomato for hanging.  There is a single recessive allele “alc” associated with the slow ripening phenotype.  The alc allele is believed to be another mutation at the NOR locus.  Fruit from alc/alc plants have significantly lower levels of endogenous ethylene, suppressed polygalacturonase activity and firmer fruit.  Fruit harvested at the onset of ripening mature to an orange color, and those left on the plant until full ripening have normal red color.  The landraces listed above are all alc/alc and can remain firm for several months, though there is wide variation for this LSL trait within local populations – suggesting alc + other factors are at play.  The ESL trait associated with alc also appears to be subject to the level of water stress during fruit production – with generally enhanced ESL under more arid production conditions.  Hybrids that are heterozygous for alc (alc/+) have shelf life intermediate between +/+ and alc/alc, but have more normal fruit color and flavor than either rin/+ or nor/+, and thus seems to be another interesting candidate gene/all ele for the extended shelf life/excellent flavor combination.

Alcobaca type tomatoes hung for winter storage

                                                 

Effect of alc on fruit deterioration

dfd = delayed fruit deterioration.  The dfd trait was first found in certain ecotypes growing in the southern Mediterranean.  The literature suggests that dfd is a partially dominant mutant allele of NOR, and may indeed by identical to or a slight variation to alc.  DFD controls cuticle composition and leads to decreased cell water loss, increasing cell turgor (firmness) per se, and decreasing fruit water loss generally during ripening.  Normally as tomato fruit ripen the cuticle weakens and grows less resistant to penetration.  Fruit of dfd plants require significantly more force for cuticle penetration than those from wild type varieties, and do not exhibit a normal progressive weakening of the cuticle during ripening.  Fruit from dfd plants exhibit the normal ripening-induced fruit cell wall breakdown and cell separation typical of wild type, but show substantial swelling of pericarp cells during the ripening that is atypical, with a ~4x increase in cell size vs wild type in ripe fruit, likely related to increased cell turgor.  There is also less fruit water loss in dfd vs wild type ripening fruit – another contributing factor to improved fruit firmness.  Increased cell turgor, decreased fruit moisture loss and increased cuticle strength all appear to be related to changes in cuticle wax content and composition in dfd vs wild type.

 

Unlike rin, and nor, dfd’s affect on fruit firmness/LSL was independent of normal fruit coloration and ripening-related accumulation of sugars and organic acids.  Futhermore dfd/dfd plants maintained firmer fruit without impacting expression of genes, such a PG, involved in ripening induced cell wall degradation (unlike alc).  The dfd mutant appears to represent a very novel approach for ESL that may be used in combination with other ESL traits to enhance shelf life in tomato hybrids or O.P. varieties.

Changes in Fruit Coloration after Breaker Stage

Davis EFS F2 segregate 

EFS – extended field storage.  Several new processing type tomato hybrids contain the extended field storage (EFS) trait, which allows for a longer window for field harvest, creating more flexibility for tomato processers.  The alc allele (or perhaps a related NOR mutant) may to be at least partially responsible for this modified ripening phenotype.  While driving near Davis, California in early September 2014, I stopped to pick up a couple of tomatoes that had fallen off a truck on the way to processing.  They had bright crimson flesh and a rich tomato flavor.  In a F2 growout in 2015 we found one F2 plant that appeared never to fully ripen on the vine, but had a bright pink center (see photo).  This combination of a lack of obvious pigmentation on the fruit surface with bright lycopene pigmentation of the fruit pericarp seems atypical of all the ripening mutants described above, and remains a mystery.  We presume this plant to be homozygous for one or more recessive ripening mutants and made several F1 crosses to elite FLF breeding lines.  F2 progeny from winter growouts will be evaluated in 2016.  This was one of the oddest discoveries in our 2015 nurseries and I expect we will learn quite a bit more next year.  In my literature review for this paper I found a one sentence reference to a long keeping variety that appeared to ripen from the “inside out” – perhaps a related phenomenon?

Fruit Shelf Life of Nine LSL Tomato Hybrids (Yogendra et al. 2013)

Nr = never ripe and Gr=green ripe.  These are dominant, gain of function mutations at independent loci, that each results in reduced ethylene responsiveness in tomato fruit tissue.   The ethylene insensitivity in both Gr and Nr have a negative impact on seed germination and seedling vigor and completely prevent normal fruit ripening.  Negative plant and fruit phenotypes prevent any commercial use of these mutant alleles.

Summary

Although the mutant alleles rin, nor and alc generate a somewhat similar ESL phenotype in plants heterozygous for these alleles, they are independent loci and have different modes of action. With all three alleles, extended shelf life is associated with later maturity, and with rin and nor also associated with decreased pigmentation (see photo above).  The mutant alleles of these three genes have a similar effect on extending shelf life, and the maintenance of firmness is due both to the mutant alleles per se, and the background genotype of both the male and female parents.  We have found that a rin/+ genotype in a firm fruited background can extend shelf life for over two weeks.  In such a case a fruit picked fully ripe can stay crisp and firm on the countertop (or in transit to local or distant markets) for at least 14-21 days.  Since several of the key aromatic compounds impacting flavor are directly derived from lycopene and other carotenoid pigments, in theory one might expect that the lower carotenoid pigment content of rin/+ hybrids might lead to lower flavor.  However by selecting ruthlessly for flavor in parent lines, we have been able to identify rin/rin parents that contribute high flavor to rin/+ hybrids. 

It is currently unclear how closely related are the NOR mutants alc, dfd  - and possibly EFS.  EFS is now widely deployed in commercial processing hybrids grown in California, though the ESL phenotype and mode of action appear to be treated as trade secrets.  The dfd mutant is also somewhat of a mystery, perhaps due to a Cornell patent filing on a specific dfd sequence – in the patent they do describe this as a NOR mutant derived from a Mediterranean ecotype.  To complicate matters more a Davis, CA company Arcadia has patented an induced mutation in NOR (reference), which they claim to be an improvement on the naturally occurring nor loss of function mutant.  It is too early to know how similar the Arcadia mutant might be to alc, dfd or EFS.

The primary use of extended shelf life (ESL) tomato hybrids will likely be for medium/large size grower (field or protected culture) producing for distant markets.  Picking an ESL hybrid at or just before full ripening (in the marketplace = vine ripened) then packing and shipping, can be a consumer and taste-friendly alternative to the traditional “green and gassed” model.  We think ESL types will also be well suited to smaller producers selling in more local markets.  These types could be picked less frequently, and once picked, be much less prone to post harvest losses.  It appears there may be several different gene/allele options for ESL, with varying efficacy, ease of use, and freedom to operate.  We think ESL will be an increasing important trait for fresh market tomatoes, with perhaps evolving breeding strategies for optimization of the trait.  We will build on our early success with rin, and continue to follow and explore the other options described here.  Our multi-year effort in selecting for fruit firmness and flavor per se is paying off – deployment of rin or one of the NOR mutants will likely require a firm fruit background for optimization of ESL, and a high flavor background will likely be needed to counter the delayed ripening effect of rin/+, nor/+,  or alc hybrids.

Gardening During Flood and Drought In Dallas/Fort Worth

The Dallas/Fort Worth Area has extremely unpredictable rainfall.  Months of flood are followed by months with almost no rain.  Just over the last 18 months, the lowest rainfall amount was 0.06 inches in the month of September 2014, but the highest was 16.96 inches in May of 2015, more than 280 times as much!  After that washout in May, July and August of 2015 received less than an inch of rain each!  This was followed by a wet October, with almost 10 inches of rain.  How can anyone garden in such an environment - where almost daily watering is required some months and root washout happens in others?

So, the Dallas/Forth Worth area has variable rain, sometimes with not enough rain and sometimes with floods.  Also, the time when trees and garden plants could benefit most from water (July and August) due to the increased sun, the least rainfall is available.  In scientific terms, water becomes the limiting factor in the height of the growing season.

Is there anything that can help prevent flooding of plants during heavy rains, but also supply water to plants during droughts?  Could this device or system be automatic, rather than relying on gardeners to take time out of their busy schedules to water plants during droughts and cover the soil during heavy rains?  Finally, could this device collect and save water during rainy periods for use during dry periods?  The answer to all three of these questions is yes - and the device is the Groasis Waterboxx PlantCocoon®, or Waterboxx for short.

The Waterboxx is a self refilling water battery for plants.  It is placed around a smaller plant (at least 6 inches tall and with a stalk less than 2 inches in diameter) right after planting.  The Waterboxx is then filled with 4 gallons of water.  This water slowly trickles out, about 50 mL or 10 teaspoons a day, to the roots of a growing plant, via a small wick.  The Waterboxx has a special lotus leaf inspired lid, which allows it to catch dew, transpiration moisture from the plant, as well as rainfall, and store it for later use.  The Waterboxx, although 10 inches tall, is filled with less than 4 inches of rain and has enough water stored (with average water outflow of 50 mL/day) for 300 days without any precipitation.

The Waterboxx also prevents plant over-watering by directing heavy rains away from the roots of the plant.  Once full, the Waterboxx funnels all excess water off to the side of the plant (10 inches away from the stalk).  This channeling away of excess water prevents root washout and also prevents the splitting of tomatoes and melons.

From Groasis - A cross section view of the Waterboxx - water is collected by the tan lid, funneled down the siphons (shown in red here), stored in the green reservoir (which holds 4 liters), and slowly released through the white wick to the roots below. 

The Waterboxx can easily accommodate two tomato plants, two to four pepper plants. two zucchini plants, or one melon or winter squash.  You can see Waterboxx gardening results here.  With more than one plant, an extra wick can be inserted to give more water (which will decrease the length of time the Waterboxx has reserve water, halving it roughly for every doubling of the number of wicks).  

Has the Waterboxx been used in drought conditions before?  Yes.  The Waterboxx was used to grow tomatoes in the height of the California drought in 2015.  Tomatoes planted in Sacramento County, California received no water after planting, and got less than a quarter inch of rain for three months of summer, but still managed to produce over 40 fruits from one plant.  You can see the results of this below.

16 weeks' growth of a tomato plant in Sacramento County California - all with no water after planting.  

What about flood conditions?  How well does the Waterboxx work in flood conditions?  Well, in the same year (2015) that the Waterboxx was growing full sized tomatoes in California, it was growing Roma and cherry tomatoes in Indiana, which had one of the wettest springs and the wettest July on record.  Over 13 inches of rain fell around Indianapolis in July, which would have both washed out most tomato roots and caused most fruits to split.  With the Waterboxx, however, this did not happen. We see no tomatoes split and a bountiful harvest just beginning below. 

Roma (left) and cherry (right) tomatoes growing with the Waterboxx during an extremely wet July, with over 13 inches of rain.  This photo, taken July 21, shows no split tomatoes and an excellent crop - all because the Waterboxx prevents overwatering even in heavy rains.

The Waterboxx works great in a standard 4'x4' raised bed, but also works in traditional garden rows. The consistent water the Waterboxx provides allows the plant to reach their maximum height, while also sparing gardeners hot evenings of watering the garden.   The Waterboxx can also be used to grow trees without any watering after planting in difficult areas like Dallas/Fort Worth.  

The Waterboxx can help residents of the Dallas/Fort Worth area to stop spending hours in the hot summer sun watering their garden plants and just enjoy the fruits of their labor.  If you want to try gardening with the Waterboxx and stop worrying about too much or too little rain, you can find out more here or buy the Waterboxx here.  

We would love to read your comments below.