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
>From venaurafarm@bellsouth.net Fri Sep 3 14:43:28 2010
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On 9/3/2010 2:16 PM, 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.
Maybe used small diameter vehicle tires (also wheelbarrow and hand truck
-sized ones - they are around $4-5 or less new!) and used tin cans (with
a hole in the bottom; many types and sizes, soda and beer cans of
aluminum would be rust-resistant, possibly aiding collection of dew and
providing longer service) could be recycled to make one of these
devices. Using a hole cutter cut a ring of holes into one side of the
tire, insert cans in holes, put around seedling; total cost, around $5,
emminently reusable, durable, UV resistant. The bottom half of the tire
would become a reservoir; the height of the tire above grade would
provide shade for the plant in addition to conserving water and
providing cooling in soil under the tire. You could adapt many different
sizes of tires to serve this purpose; the larger diameter ones could be
left in place permanently.