Local Students Conduct Gardening Experiment Using New Invention

Students from Raymond Cree Middle School participated in a science project Thursday at the Whitewater Preserve.

They planted seeds using a “Groasis Waterboxx.”

“I didn’t know what to think of it,” said student Jackie Priddy. “It was different…a little weird.”

Dutchman Pieter Hoff invented it 16 years ago. He helped plant trees and crops all over the world using his creation.

“If there’s no food, you have civil war,” he said, who helped supervise the students.

Here’s how the Waterboxx works: Once the seeds are sown, it is designed so you never have to be water them again because the Waterboxx will do it through its built-in reservoir.

“Once that plant has developed it tap roots and finds enough water to grow with,” Hoff explained, “then you take the box off, and you plant the next one with it.”

Hoff said the Waterboxx will work even in dry places like the Coachella Valley because the box will capture whatever rain the desert gets and prevent the rain from evaporating.

The student teams harvested several native, desert plants, such as honey mesquite, sugar bush, and desert willow. They leveled the ground, dug a hole, placed the seeds on the cardboard template, and positioned the Waterboxx on top. Then, they poured four to five gallons of water into the box.

They will return to the garden in February and March to check on their experiment.

“Unlike the classroom experiments that we do, the teachers know the answer,” said science teacher Peter A’Hearn. “In this case, we don’t know what the answer is…which is really exciting.”