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More food with less water episode 3
Be a GREEN MUSKETEER reforest the world with us!
Elshout (The Netherlands) April 2013
This is episode 3 of the series ‘More food with less water with Groasis’. Groasis did these vegetable trials with the Groasis Waterboxx during 2013 in The Netherlands.
The experiment has 2 objectives: - Can we grow vegetables with 90% less use of water and keep the production equal?
The experiment has 2 objectives: - Can we replace artificial fertilizers through adding mycorrhizae (funguses) to the roots?
When it’s very dry
it is very important that the capillair stays intact,
otherwise the plant cannot take its water.
The water comes up, with the help of the capillair, to the roots of the plant.
When you dig the soil with a machine, the soil gets loose, and you destroy the capillair of the soil.
That’s why we use a pin to make the planting hole so the capillair stays intact.
That is very important
Because we try to keep the capillair intact, we use this kind of trays.
It is very high, 18 cm, to make sure that the primary roots are going down.
We want to make sure that they are planted safely without damaging the roots so they are able to grow downwards to find water.
That is how we can grow plants with less water.
To ensure that the plants get enough water we have placed 2 wicks
which come out on the other side of the Waterboxx.
The wick is the device which gives the water to the plants.
We fill the box with water.
The wicks make sure the box doesn’t empty immediately
but that it gives water as long as 3 to 4 weeks.
The plant always gets some drops of water.
If we would leave the Waterboxx open,
animals would be able to drink out of it and
the evaporation would be very high.
That’s why we cover it with a plastic midplate, like this.
By doing this, a lot of evaporation will be stopped
But to collect the possible rain water or dew we place a cover
and close it like this.
Now the Waterboxx can collect the water through the blue siphons
and the water cannot evaporate through the top,
but will drip via the wicks to the roots of the plant.
To the plants that are being planted now,
we add for the second time mycorrhizae fungus.
The plants are taken out of the pots
and this always causes, by definition, a little bit of damage to the roots.
so it’s an advantage to give the mycorrhizae fungus for the second time.
The plants are between 3 and 5 weeks old.
We have added extra mycorrhizae in the planting hole
and after we have planted the plants we install the Waterboxx.
To connect the plants with the soil we give them 1 liter of water,
not in the box but directly into the planting hole where the plants grow.
The big challenge for us is to use 90% less water
and to get the highest yield possible.
But the biggest challenge is for the plant itself,
because the plant needs the water for its growing process,
to take up the minerals and to cool itself.
Because when it is very hot the plant uses water to cool itself by means of evaporation.
That is for the plant the biggest challenge to grow with this little amount of water.
Next time: Jacqueline shows the different treatments of the hot pepper & bell pepper plants.
Last week they were still too small to be planted in the Groasis Waterboxx.
Next time: Ton explains about the suckers of a tomato plant and shows the hanging system of the tomato plants.
This is the sprout we want to save
Every time it’s up and down
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