The critical period using the Groasis waterboxx is the first two years. In the first year the tree is planted and needs to adapt itself to the soil and go and get capillary water. As it is helped by the waterboxx it will survive and grow. But after the first year, once the tree has found its capillary water, the tree has to survive on its own. This is the dangerous part.

Therefore, after taking the box away we absolutely need to keep the capillary intact.

1. Keep the sun off the surface around the newly planted tree
2. Keep the capillary column intact

We can reach these two objectives through protecting the soil around the tree immediately after we take the box away. You can use various solutions:

1. A ‘cloth’ made of natural material (cotton/wool/coco/etc)
2. Carton
3. Hay, mulch
4. Loose sand
5. Box made of biopolymer

We’ve tested these 5 methods. The best of the first 4 methods is hay or mulch as these materials stimulate the development of natural and biological life and the growth of oxygen content in the soil.

The best of all methods is a biopolymer box. We leave this box at the planting place. It produces water in the first year and supplies nutrients in the following years during the degrading process, while keeping the capillary column intact.

If you follow our suggestion to plant two trees in one box your chance to get 100% survival of the trees will double. After the critical period, which is after the second year, you will find a percentage of boxes with 1 surviving tree. You will also find a percentage of boxes with 2 surviving trees. In this case we suggest you to cut away the smallest of the two survived trees. This means that you manage to do a positive mass selection where the strongest individuals survive and grow.

Another method to improve the results of the critical period is planting with the capillary drill. Using this drill that keeps the capillary intact, quadruples the water resources for the young tree as it collects the water to the center of the planting hole. Instead of the rain water floating away from the slopes (caused by the hardpan) to the lower areas, the capillary drillchanges the surface of eroded areas in a sieve giving it the possibility to enter the soil.