Growing Dwarf Cherry Trees (without watering) and with the Groasis Waterboxx

Last year, the author decided to plant a dwarf cherry tree purchased from Stark Brothers nursery online.  The tree, a Blackgold® Sweet Cherry Semi-Dwarf, barely grew over the first year (without a Waterboxx).  We watered the trees consistently from a hose during 2013.  We were very disappointed with this and the tree at the end of its first winter (late February) is shown below.

Below you see the cherry tree after the Waterboxx was placed (on April 27) , with a little bit of leaf growth.  There was a late spring this year after a bitterly cold winter, and we haven't yet seen much growth.

Below we see the tree only three weeks later (May 18) with approximate doubling in canopy size.  This is largely due to the consistent water provided by the Groasis Waterboxx.

In the interim between the above and below pictures, we had some animal (we believe a rabbit) eat bark from around 80% of the trunk.  We repaired this the best we could and added a GrowSafe® Telescoprotexx (tree protector) that allows sunlight to reach the small tree but protects it from animals.  The tree below is shown on July 22, 2014.  The canopy size is again almost doubled, and now the tree is in danger of getting so large so quickly that we may have trouble removing the Waterboxx.

The Groasis Waterboxx was designed to grow trees in deserts, but even in relatively wet climates (like ours in Indiana) it dramatically increases tree growth because the Waterboxx allows for constant irrigation to the roots.  The Waterboxx collects near nightly dew and occasional rainwater, and stores this water in a 4 gallon reservoir, and slowly releases this to the roots of the growing plant in its center.  The Waterboxx is removed after about one year (before the tree canopy gets too large to permit the central Waterboxx opening around it) and is reused for up to 10 years.  The Waterboxx planted tree then has deeply developed roots, which access capillary water and provide drought resistance to the tree.

We will continue to update this page with more photos throughout the year.  We expect our first cherry crop next year thanks to the Waterboxx.

Be the first in your area to begin planting trees with the Waterboxx.  Not only does the Waterboxx save time and conserve water, but it also saves money on planting trees when all costs are considered.  Buy the Waterboxx here.

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".