Plant instructions for the Groasis Technology

Watch the instruction film

In this slideshow we teach you how to work with the Groasis Technology.  If you follow the instructions, you'll have for sure over 90% plant survival rate with your planting on any dry, eroded or rocky soil.  Before starting to read these instructions, please first read all the pages of the mainlink 'Technology'.  This will help you understand why we do things, and how we do them.  Once all is clear, you can buy your Groasis waterboxxes and start to plant.  We wish you success with your planting.

 

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Step 1a How to prepare a planting hole WITH compost with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 Some soils are so poor and have no water holding capacity so you may consider to add compost 02 You make the planting hole 50 cm deep but do not touch the soil below it in order to leave the capillary canals intact 03 You add 20 liters of compost and -or old manure take care prevent too high salt content 04 Put the compost and -or old manure in the hole 05 Add soil through the compost and -or manure mix a layer of 35 cm so that your planting hole remains 15 cm (six inches) deep. 06 The mixing process 07 The result after mixing the compost and -or old manure with the soil 08 Then add 40 liters of water check the salt concentration of the water before use 09 Let the water enter the soil during 24 hours 10 Next day open the soil to let oxygen in 11 Let the oxygen enter during a few hours 12 After a few hours the soil is ready to plant

 

Step 1b How to prepare a planting hole WITHOUT compost with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 Make the planting hole 15 cm deep do not dig deeper leave the capillary canal structure below it intact 02 Put 40 liters of water if the soil has no water holding capacity put 20 liters if it has 03 Let the water enter the soil during 24 hours 04 Next day open the soil to let oxygen enter and after a few hours you can start to plant

 

Step 2 How to assemble the Groasis waterboxx Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 Assemble the waterboxx put the wick in from the inside and pull it with a pliers 02 Let 12,5 cm inside and put the 12,5 cm outside between the edges 03 The wick must be placed in the length of the direction of the middlle opening 04 The wick is placed well 05 Add the plate that isolates to keep the water temperature low and keeps the light out to prevent algae growth 06 Put the water collecting cover on top of the waterboxx 07 Click the cover until it is fixed thoroughly 08 Because of the heat it will expand a lot so fix it well 09 The 2010 design had no locking system so water could evaporate 10 So put the two upstanding edges fitting well in the openings of the lips 11 Then put the two sifons that help to let a rain shower in but prevent the water from evaporating afterwards 12 Fix them well until you hear a click so that no animal can take them out with its tongue 13 Now the Groasis waterboxx is ready to plant

 

Step 3 How to prepare good plants with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 This is how you repair destroyed primarry roots 02 Compact the top soil of the pot 03 You cut 3 cm of the bottom of the bag including the roots 04 You do this because in the bag the primary root doesn't grow vertically downwards as it should but horizontally 06 The primary root that is supposed to grow downwards often even grows upwards 07 This is how you remove the destroyed part of the root 08 Detail of the part where the sprimary root splits in many small roots who are not able to penetrate deep into arid soil or rocks 09 Detail of removed horizontal part of primary root 10 Left OK - right the wrong part pruned off 11 Now you have created a vertically downwards growing primary root 12 You cut the bag carefully in the length 13 You place the tree with the bag 14 It is now planted so you remove the plastic 15 The pruned primary root will resprout within 3 months with new vertically downwards growing primary roots

 

Step 4a How to plant WITH compost with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 A few hours after opening the compacted drained soil enough oxygen has entered and you can start to plant. 02 You prepare a horizontal planting bed this way the box stands horizontal this is necessary to catch water 03 Put the anti-evaporation cover in an east-west direction 04 This way the sleeve opening is also east-west so it gives a shadow to the plants between 10am and 4pm 05 Determine the planting distance 06 Design of planting distance 07 Cut 3 cm from the bottom of the bag and roots in order to repair the destroyed primary root 08 Cut the bag in the length before planting 09 Make the planting holes exactly the size of the pot this way you keep the capillary structure around the roots intact 10 Put the two plants aside of each other 11 After planting take the plastic off 12 Wen using compost mix don't put plants completely into soil so you have mixture below the developing primary roots 13 Add soil around them 14 You cover the plants with sand do not use your foot to compact it you do that with water later on 15 To prevent evaporation of the leaves while the roots are not active yet you prune the stems to app 10 cm length 16 You carefully remove all side sprouts to model the tree to a single stem 17 Detail of remodelling through pruning 18 The resprouting you can expect after appr. 3 months, after one year you prune it again and leave the strongest sprout 19 Then you put the cover that prevents evaporation through the center opening of the Groasis waterboxx 20 You add 10 cm of sand on top of the cover 21 Later on you give the 4 liters of water in the center opening of the box so this sand will float under the box 22 So You put a little hill-like quantity of sand on the cover 23 If the box is not well connected to the soil ventilation will dry out the wick and the soil below the box 24 Detailed photo of bottom of a box not well connected to the soil below it causing the wick and the soil to dry out 25 Then you put the waterboxx over the trees 26 At last you put sand to the side 27 Leave the soil around the waterboxx loose this way you break the capillary and lock up the water in the soil 28 Put the overflow just above the soil 29 if you have stones use them to cover the soil to keep it cooler 30 Then you start to give water

 

Step 4b How to plant WITHOUT compost with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 24 Hours after adding the water you open the soil to let oxygen in and after a few hours you can start to plant 02 You prepare a horizontal planting bed this way the box stands horizontal this is necessary to catch water 03 Put the anti-evaporation cover in an east-west direction 04 This way the sleeve opening is also east-west so it will give a shadow to the plants between 10am and 4pm 05 With the carton you have determined the planting distance 06 Make planting holes exactly the size of the pot to keep the capillary structure around the roots intact 07 Compact the soil a bit on top of the pot to not loose it while planting 08 Cut 3 cm from the bottom of the bag and roots in order to repair the destroyed primary root 09 Cut the bag in the length before planting 10 In this instruction you have no compost mixed so you put the plants all the way in the sand 11 You cover the plants with sand do not use your foot to compact it you do that with water later on 12 Prune plants to remodel them and to prevent evaporation of water through the leaves before root system is active 13 Detail of pruning and remodelling 14 Through removing the leaves you prevent them to evaporate 15 The resprouting you can expect after appr. 3 months, after one year prune it again and leave the strongest sprout 16 Then you put the cover that prevents evaporation through the center opening of the Groasis waterboxx 17 You add 10 cm of sand on top of the cover 18 Later on you give the 4 liters of water in the center opening of the box so this sand will float under the box 19 If the box is not well connected to the soil ventilation will dry out the wick and the soil below the box 20 Detailed photo of bottom of a box not well connected to soil below it causing the wick and the soil to dry out 21 Then you place the waterboxx over the trees 22 You put the sand aside of it 23 Leave the soil around the waterboxx loose this way you break the capillary and lock up the water in the soil 24 Put the overflow just above the soil 25 If you have stones use them to cover the soil to keep it cooler 26 Another example of stones around the box) 27 Then you can start to give the water

 

Step 5 How to add water with the Groasis Technology Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

1 Then you start to add water check your water quality sand in it is no problem salt in it is not allowed 2 Do not use a pump with pressure, let it go through gravity 3 Give about 4 liters (one gallon) in center opening through overflowing the edges indirectly so that roots dont wash out 4 Overflowing the edges to give water indirectly this way we compact the soil around the roots 5 Then complete filling the Groasis waterboxx with 16 liters (four gallons) of water 6 Close the cap and the trees are ready to go 7 The final result of the promising and hopefull work 8 The Dubai Desert Group planting team wishes you a lot of success!

 

Step 6 How to 1) prevent root damage from grass and 2) soil from drying out and 3) root damage from cracking soil Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 Sometimes you plant in an area with grass that seems dead but isn't 02 If you plant only 5 and not 15 cm deep, as prescripted you'll get grass root problems 03 Grassroots will go to the wick and drink all the water - the planted tree dies 04 Detail of drinking grassroots 05 The grassroots also absorb the wick 06 The grassroots grow in the wick and along the wick in the waterboxx 07 Detail of roots growing in the Groasis waterboxx 08 Details of grassroots blocking the dripping of the wick 09 Detail of wick blocked by grassroots 10 Solve this by planting the waterboxx deep enough and by breaking the soil around it 11 Make 50 cm soil loose around the box grass will die capillary water will be locked up 12 Detail of making 50 cm loose soil aside of the box 13 Result 1) grass will die 2) soil below will remain humid 3) soil will not crack 14 Final result

 

Step 7 How to prevent collapsing problems of soil Press the Playbutton to let the slideshow start at photo n º 1

01 Some sorts of soil shrink when they get dry 02 This leads to cracks causing the roots to break 03 Tree growing in cracking soil destroying its secundary root system 04 It also leads to collapsing of the soil below the box causing several problems 05 It is causing that the box is not connected to the soil 06 This way air ventilation dries out the wick 07 Leading to drying out of the soil below the box and dying of the plant 08 Also the middle of the box goes down and the edges fall out of the lips leading to evaporation loss of water 09 Solve this by adding a hill-like 10 cm of soil above the carton cover 10 Another example of a hill-like layer of soil above the carton 11 Detail of hill-like layer of soil on carton cover 12 Another detail of a hill-like cover of soil on carton cover 13 When you put water in the middle it will wash this soil between the box and the soil 14 The final result box is deep enough and soil around it is loose locking up the capillary water