Protect your crops and trees against animals

Water in dry areas attracts life. When you are planting with the Waterboxx® or Growboxx® plant cocoon, the water reservoir will be filled with water. The water in the Waterboxx® or Growboxx® plant cocoon can be the only water source for the animal in the area. While planting with the Waterboxx® and Growboxx® plant cocoon, we came across the following ‘problems’:

• App. 2% of all the planted saplings and seeds are eaten by ants;
• App. 1% of all the planted saplings and seeds are eaten by mice;
• App. 0,2% of all the planted saplings and seeds are eaten by gophers;
• App. 30% of all the installed Waterboxx® plant cocoons has frogs or toads below them after 2 months;
• In one experiment (Whitewater Preserve California) we had 3 boxes destroyed by a black bear (Ursidae). After the destruction, we did nothing and no more Waterboxx® plant cocoons were touched;
• The soil under more than 90% of the Waterboxx® and Growboxx® plant cocoons is drained by earthworms within a month after installing;
• Under all the boxes, even if the soil is rocky, the soil changes rapidly into a soft soil caused by microbes and bacteria;
• In 3 experiments, 1 in France and 2 in Spain, we had severe damage of wild boar. They want to drink the water from the Waterboxx® plant cocoons. In these places they broke them 100% open.

How do you protect your crops and trees against animals?

When you plant with the Waterboxx® or Growboxx® plant cocoon, there is a chance that you have to protect your crops and trees against (wild) animals. There are multiple ways to protect the box and your crops/trees, namely:

• Put an electric fence around your planting place. The electric fence will not harm the animals, but scare them away;
• Put a bucket or bowl with water near your planting place. In this way the animals have drinking water and they don’t have to break the boxes anymore;
• When especially birds eat the seeds of the plants, place a net over your crops or tree. Make sure that the crops/tree will get enough light;
• During one of this trips, Pieter Hoff saw an effective method in India to scare wild boars. In India, the people will hang a shining lamp that is moving all the time through the wind. This is similar to the method of hanging a CD-ROM to scare pigeons.