Trees That Grow on Rocks? Foresting the Drylands

Peter Hoff is a retired tulip and lily magnate who has invented a means of growing robust trees that can survive in even the driest of climates. His invention is the clever Groasis Waterboxx, a portable microclimate in a bucket. If you are interested, you will want to watch the Groasis slideshow -- or the YouTube video below -- to get more details behind the actual workings of the Waterboxx.

The plant grows within the hole inside the Waterboxx. The Waterboxx itself is full of water -- which acts as both a thermal flywheel to regulate the plant's temperature within favourable limits, and as an ultraslow wicked water source.

These Waterboxxes should be quite inexpensive when produced and sold in quantity. Test plantings in the drylands of Spain and in the Sahara, seem to support the claims being made for the device. Certainly a worldwide drive to plant more forests in marginal and dry climates would be more productive for the Earth, than current doomer wailings over a phantom carbon catastrophe. In other words: "So you have nothing to do? Well, just go plant a tree, then!"

The device has evolved from its conceptual beginnings, and is likely to evolve further yet -- perhaps specialising into various forms more ideal for planting specific trees, shrubs, or crops. Or Waterboxxes with a more linear shape and multiple holes, for planting rows of crops at a time. The limit lies within human ingenuity.

It is possible to reverse desertification to a large degree, with an intelligent enough approach. The ascendancy of life on this planet is no fluke.