Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] waterboxx

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Marjory <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] waterboxx
  • Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:37:56 -0500

Hi Rain,

Thanks for your comments. Yes, you definitely got it right on the over promoting of new products. LOL And that just getting a tree going is only the beginnings of your problems. OMG, don't get me started...
I was thinking this could be a useful tool for helping to establish a forest of pioneer trees, helping to create a micro climate and ultimately soil, for the later planting of more productive trees and bushes. Perhaps using fast growing deep rooted legumes to get an area started? Laying out irrigation systems are a royal pain, and as I mentioned before, a lot of work to maintain. This looked like it could be fairly simple and wouldn't require that much attention once it was in place. .
And yes, I have noted times in this region where there is no dew. sigh. I've also had situations where it was so dry even mulch didn't do any good. Would the little box of storage of water for very slow dispersal be enough to smooth out the dry spells? That is the question. You are right in that it all depends on the available moisture. And the choice of species of tree to try could take a bit of work to figure out. The waterboxx website has a research area setup which you can join and they recommend planting Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean Cypress (also known as Italian, Tuscan, or Graveyard Cypress, or Pencil Pine) as a control species for comparison with other areas. But they didn't have any other suggestions for what might work.
We have several areas that I have been trying to get trees started and they are far enough away they will never be able to be irrigated. So this possibility has me interested as a solution for those outlying areas. I am seriously tempted to get some to see how well they perform, measure temperature and water levels, that kind of thing over a few seasons..
What also interested me is if they worked well enough, there is is the possibility of making these out of home made clay / cermaics at some future date as a very low tech sustainable method to reforest an area.
Marjory



Rain Tenaqiya wrote:
Hey Marjory,
I have a friend who was very excited about using these in southern California, so I did a little research. As usual, a lot of new technologies are overpromoted, with wild claims. This device would definitely help if you have the right climate. In other words, if you have any Summer rain or dew, this box would help collect and release the water over time, plus shade the seedling and conserve the water, acting like a mulch. Unfortunately, many arid climates (especially Mediterranean ones) don't have much Summer rain or dew, so these boxes wouldn't be much better than mulch, or mulch and a tree guard. In my climate (nothern California inland Mediterranean), just spreading oak leaf mulch over grass results in many oak seedlings where none existed before. However, if you are interested in productive fruit or nut trees, just getting a seedling established is only the beginning of your irrigation problems. My climate requires dumping water on the
trees forever if I want a reasonable harvest, something the waterboxx would
provide no help with. You probably know most of this, already, but my friend
didn't.
Rain


_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
Google command to search archives:
site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page