Water management: ‘A great solution’ for drought

Summer 2016 was Boston’s driest ever, with the region seeing less than four inches of rain between June and August. Drought conditions being the gardening nightmare that they are, Northeast Nursery salesman Matt Wallace was happy to have a friendly neighborhood company on hand to navigate his customers through the dry patch.

Arborjet, headquartered 30 minutes away in Woburn, Mass., provides Northeast Nursery with an array of items including NutriRoot, a liquid formula used to maintain mature trees, shrubs and turf even in very dry weather. Combining essential minerals, seaweed extract and moisture-retaining humectants, NutriRoot extracts water from the air and soil while promoting root development.

“Root growth is especially important during the first year of planting,” Wallace says. “NutriRoot helps roots stay moist so they can get stronger.”

Wallace uses the product on his home garden, effectively cutting his weekly watering time in half. NutriRoot can also be applied in the fall before the onset of winter and colder temperatures.

“Instead of watering two or three times a week, I’m able to cut back to once a week,” Wallace says. “There’s no stress I may underwater, either.”

Landscaping customers are NutriRoot’s biggest fans, although Wallace has not heard any complaints from everyday gardeners in the year he’s had the item on his shelves. Having a local company provide such an effective water manager is a nice bonus for the 25-year-old nursery.

“It’s not just that Arborjet is local, it’s the fact that they sell an amazing product,” Wallace says. “We’re always on the look-out for something that solves a problem we don’t have a solution for. NutriRoot is a great solution.”

The product has proven to be a solid add-on for plant sales as well, Wallace reports.

“It’s frustrating to throw away dead plants, but it happens when people don’t keep up with their watering,” he says. “This product is one more thing I can give customers to help with that.”