Episode 1489
Saving trees with Root Quencher! Using less water and growing healthier trees.
We love small family run companies here on Around the House. We sit down with a brand new innovative product called Root Quencher that can make those trees and shurbs so much more healthy all while saving you water. Changing The World One Garden At A Time. We sit down with Robert Summers And Maria Caceres: Co-Founders Of In Deep Irrigation and Root Quencher. For more information find them at RootQuencher.com and you can purchase them online at HomeDepot.com
Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen
If you want to buy Eric G a beer or coffee you can support the show here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ATHERICG
We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/
We have moved the Pro Insider Special on Thursday to its new feed. It will no longer be on this page. You can find it and subscribe right here: https://around-the-house-pro-insider.captivate.fm/
Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.
Mentioned in this episode:
A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard
For more information about the latest in decking and cladding head to https://www.millboard.com/
Baldwin Hardware
Transcript
[00:00:05] Robert Summers: Honestly, I talk to customers all the time about that very subject and they'll say, oh yeah. And Arbor came out and said, we need to tear those out. Oh, so-and-so Horticultures came and said, we need to tear those out. And it's like, guys, no stop. I've got a lady in, uh, New Mexico now I'm gonna sound like a politician.
[:[00:00:47] Eric Goranson: minutes when it comes to remodeling
[:[00:00:51] Robert Summers: There is a lot to know, but we've got you covered. This is around the house.
[:[00:01:13] Eric Goranson: And I have an amazing product for you today. This is gonna solve a bunch of your problems outside and I'm very, I. I am sitting here in the root Quench your booth, and I've got the founders right here. Go ahead and start out. Robert, welcome to Around the House, my friend.
[:[00:01:33] Robert Summers: Oh
[:[00:02:03] Eric Goranson: Let's talk about root quencher.
[:[00:02:28] Robert Summers: And we'd not been happy the last few years in fruit production. Mm-hmm. . And we could tell that the trees were stressed and didn't know what to do. So we called an arborist. The arborist came out and said, second, he. You're gonna have to tear these trees out. They're what? They're at end of life. That's insane.
[:[00:03:07] Eric Goranson: man. Wow. Because you gotta go in there, cut 'em down, tear all the roots out, basically regrade that and start over.
[:[00:03:16] Robert Summers: buying trees. Yeah. And you're looking at, I mean, unless you're gonna go from seedlings, you're talking about, you know, 80 to $150 for a four foot tree. Yeah. Depending on the.
[:[00:03:32] Robert Summers: mean, no, exactly. That's the brutal part.
[:[00:03:56] Robert Summers: He said, I am not gonna deal with all this nonsense . [00:04:00] That's awesome. So it was kind of funny. I said, this is my, my, this is my laboratory right here. Yeah. You know, so over the course of the next year, we kind of developed an early prototype of the Ru Quencher that was basically just bringing water deep down to the roots.
[:[00:04:38] Robert Summers: Nice. Because we'd always, these had always been chemical based trees. Sure. You know? Old school, that's what you had, right? Yeah, it's old school. So we got a great organic fertilizer and then we saw even more fruit production and more health. So that was kind of the beginnings of the root quench and watering under the surface.
[:[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: Not trying to hope. Mother Nature gets it where it could be. And that makes a lot of sense.
[:[00:05:36] Robert Summers: Good job. Yeah. Because. That's exactly what you need to do. The difference is we've actually made a commercial device that you know is adjustable from nine to 22 inches. It has a flow control valve on it and you can fertilize in it. So it's a lot more formal than just a pipe in the ground. Yeah,
[:[00:06:05] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Piece of PVC pipe at a back of the truck and Exactly. If it was that simple that you'd be making that and sending it out, right? I mean, yeah. It's that crazy. But let's talk a little bit about what this does and how it works for the people out there listening, because you know, obviously it's putting water down.
[:[00:06:33] Robert Summers: your truck. Yeah. And honestly, that's, uh, just to finish the story on the whole thing is we didn't, obviously from the story you've heard, we didn't set out to create a product and go to market.
[:[00:07:10] Robert Summers: In such a unique way and such a sustainable long way, meaning you're gonna have that same access 20 years from now because this plastic has, I think it's got a 300 year life, something like that. Yeah. Perfect. So to be able to access it gives the, the cap gives ventilation through these holes so that air can flow naturally to the.
[:[00:07:39] Eric Goranson: That's insane. And so, you know, water is such a huge issue out there, especially for like you guys in Southern California. And even up in my area where I live in the Portland, Oregon area, every, oh, it always rains up there. Yeah. But my water bills are insane because they get you, for every gallon of water that's coming outta the mountains, you pay a ton for it.
[:[00:08:14] Robert Summers: Well, and let's not just talk about the fact that, you know, between 30, 30 and 50% of water that goes outta spray heads evaporates.
[:[00:08:46] Eric Goranson: Well, you saw that.
[:[00:09:06] Eric Goranson: There was the problem. Think of how many or. Have been pulled out for that reason, that they could have gotten decades more of life out if they would've just put a product in and fixed
[:[00:09:27] Robert Summers: Oh, so-and-so Horticultures came and said, we need to tear those. And it's like, guys, no stop. I've got a lady in, uh, New Mexico now I'm gonna sound like a politician. Huh? I know this lady in New Mexico and she's got, uh, some really unique like 40 foot tree in her front yard. And the arborist came out and said, oh, you gotta tear that out.
[:[00:10:12] Robert Summers: Mm-hmm. , um, and. I have not gotten an update from her, but I know he was turning the corner and looking better and they said cut him down. Yeah,
[:[00:10:33] Robert Summers: Typically, it's dependent on the soil. Okay. So if you've got really good soil where you know the water's gonna. Because there's something called capillary action. Exactly. And when the water flows in here, and we've got it actually on our, uh, YouTube site mm-hmm. , we built a chamber like. And demonstrated the capillary action where you pour water in this and it actually moves out and even moves up.
[:[00:11:14] Eric Goranson: sand goes the opposite way where it just drops out of
[:[00:11:17] Robert Summers: Sand is dropping down. Right. So if you can get that right balance of sandy lomi soil, amended soil, things like that, then you can use one for. You know, a decent size tree with a root ball of say, you know, six feet. Okay. Maybe decent size. Um, but I definitely recommend we have some larger, um, carrot woods.
[:[00:11:56] Robert Summers: With too much water. Exactly. So I'll tell people, you know, be, [00:12:00] oh, I gotta get a, gotta get two root quenchers. And then I go, just relax. Slow down chill. Because you can go the opposite way with these things and give 'em too much water. It's a, and it's, it's one of those things people ask me, well, how much water should you use?
[:[00:12:35] Robert Summers: What's going on? , you know, are, are your leaves curling up? Yeah. From too much water. Are they, what? What's happening with that? Yeah.
[:[00:12:55] Eric Goranson: They're only about 120 feet tall. But they seem, they're big. I mean, I, it's as [00:13:00] wider as this booth.
[:[00:13:03] Eric Goranson: fun. But something like that, you have to be careful cuz you're right. I could completely overwater that thing.
[:[00:13:17] Robert Summers: So if there's a good water table in the area, which I think in Oregon yeah, there is pretty much, yeah. But in California we actually have a, we have a 30 foot tall carrot wood. That almost died on us a couple years ago because it was, it's surrounded by grass. And the grass was sucking up all the water and the carrot would said, Hey, whoa, it's really hot.
[:[00:13:59] Eric Goranson: And that's crazy. [00:14:00] So you think about that, that you would think that you could set that tree and forget it.
[:[00:14:24] Eric Goranson: Okay, it's sandy soil, it's horrible. I'm gonna go. Six inches, the top soil through the sod down and walk out the door. That tree doesn't have much of a chance with that kind of situation because now you've got grass and soil, but those roots are now trying to go up and find it. Right. So how do does this go again?
[:[00:15:08] Robert Summers: Mm-hmm. , so the nine inches is perfect. Yeah. Uh, we have it on holly bushes, which have a lot deeper roots. Okay. So we're down, I think to 18 inches, something like that. And then we've got 'em on all of our fruit trees at 22 inches. Taking the water all the way down. And we're having some interesting discussions now with people because we've planted a bunch of new fruit trees and they said, people say, well, what are you gonna do?
[:[00:15:53] Robert Summers: Yeah. That, that's a lot
[:[00:16:07] Robert Summers: yeah, this has got a half inch female n PT connection.
[:[00:16:27] Eric Goranson: there we go. There's the
[:[00:16:35] Robert Summers: It really depends on how much you have on the system. Yeah. I did my original calculations based on just the root que and they were wacky high. Yeah. But you put it in a drip line and it, it works beautifully.
[:[00:16:50] Robert Summers: The other important thing is directional plugs.
[:[00:17:10] Eric Goranson: Okay. So it's got these kind of teardrop shape holes for everybody listening. And these plugs go in there and plug that out.
[:[00:17:20] Robert Summers: Exactly.
[:[00:17:26] Robert Summers: It's, it's kind of, it's kind of funny, um, because like on this display, if you're not careful, I mean the, honestly, the, the tooling and the design and everything of this is so precise.
[:[00:17:58] Eric Goranson: dirty hands, you [00:18:00] got soil, you got everything in there that's gonna try to fight you along the way.
[:[00:18:20] Robert Summers: adjusts, you know, the way that it fits together.
[:[00:18:49] Robert Summers: I go, fine, I'll make it recycled. There you go. So this is all Reground abs plastic, and when it comes in black,
[:[00:19:08] Eric Goranson: It's better for the environment and you're saving water for everybody else in
[:[00:19:14] Eric Goranson: And that's what's cool. So really this is great for commercial buildings as well, right? So you get those commercial where they got the tree lines on the. Yeah. And on the, on the parkway coming into the office complex or anything else, this is really good because when you've got, those trees are out there, even for cities where you've got a curb and stuff, and that's right into it, where the half the root ball's under the sidewalk, right.
[:[00:20:01] Robert Summers: And put a root quench right next to her fence. So at least now the roots will be encouraged to go in that direction. So you're so right with your trees. Yeah. And with other issues is there are so many ancillary benefits to the product because Yeah, you're encouraging deep root growth, you're encouraging healthy growth, good use of water, easy fertilizing, and yeah, for.
[:[00:20:43] Eric Goranson: saving sidewalk, it's no brainer.
[:[00:21:01] Eric Goranson: They're self-regulatory that way. And I'll, I'll tell you what, I don't wanna put another pool in one. That's, that seems a hundred thousand dollars pool.
[:[00:21:16] Elizabeth Summers: Okay,
[:[00:21:23] as
[:[00:21:24] Elizabeth Summers: Yes, we do. Uh, we put granules in there or organic, um, liquid fertilizer. Nice. We also have a compost program on. Uh, property. So we do get the compost putted in there so that the, um, nutrients from the compost goes directly to the
[:[00:21:45] Eric Goranson: So now you're, you're feeding that from that
[:[00:22:09] Robert Summers: So that means it's, it, it's in the soil, it's right where you want it to be. I filled the whole thing up. It wasn't gonna do that with compost smokes. And it's after a week, it's gone.
[:[00:22:23] Robert Summers: So all those microbials, that biology, all that stuff is now in the soil.
[:[00:22:44] Eric Goranson: Yep. People who fixed their, oh man, you guys have thought this out. You have one of these tools need, you guys got a good thing on this?
[:[00:22:54] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. So what's next with this? I mean, you're just started out. This is a very new
[:[00:23:02] Robert Summers: Yeah. This Junior Socher Jr. We recognize that. , even just from a, a physical standpoint of this beast, is that for some smaller plants it was a bit much. Yeah. And so we thought, well, you know, for, for like azaleas and some other, you know, rot dendron and things that are like kind of medium sized plants. Yeah.
[:[00:23:43] Eric Goranson: everything's standard. That works
[:[00:23:46] Eric Goranson: So really when you're sitting here with this as an somebody that's an installer, you have one set of plugs, you've got one pipe thread fitting, it's all the same.
[:[00:24:09] Robert Summers: azalia. Yeah, exactly. All right. And I've been trying to think about you guys.
[:[00:24:30] Robert Summers: Drain holes at the bottom. So, If water doesn't move out, it doesn't stagnate in there. Yeah. And the That makes sense. And Pointer has the same type of thing. Okay.
[:[00:24:47] Eric Goranson: Which again, that can help that tap root or whoever else it's down there to Exactly. To get that
[:[00:24:52] Eric Goranson: Exactly. Because you're still just pushing it down and letting gravity do its thing. We just got on,
[:[00:25:01] Eric Goranson: Let's talk about the spike Maria.
[:[00:25:04] Elizabeth Summers: is the ru Quench spike. Okay. This goes on your drip line. Oh, we have it on our hillside because a lot of the water, it's just rolling down. Yeah. And not going directly to the plants that we want it to go to. Yeah. So we developed this. So Robert, Tool that pierced the hole in the drip line, and then we had some stakes to hold it down, and then he had these little spray heads that would break.
[:[00:25:44] Eric Goranson: Yep. You're drip blind. Just like any other drip tool that would do that. Right.
[:[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: the tops comes off.
[:[00:25:58] Elizabeth Summers: water will [00:26:00] swirl in here. Mm-hmm. go down the chamber and out to the roots. That
[:[00:26:06] Elizabeth Summers: You can also, um, fertilize in here with your liquid fertilization or fertilizer. Yep. And then the top of the. You can control the, the water flow as well. Geez. So the tighter it goes, you know, obviously
[:[00:26:26] Eric Goranson: It is great for all that stuff. Yes. And no offense to the guys out there building the drip systems. Those spikes are horrible to deal with. They are. If you've got good soil and it's fairly loose and stuff out there mm-hmm. , they're bending over, they're doing dumb things. Right. And that is serious enough when you put it there.
[:[00:26:45] Robert Summers: moving. Yeah. Wow. I gotta tell you, our competition and I'm, I'm actually pretty passionate about this little guy cuz this our, this is our newest invention is that our competition is, and I've been using the competition for years. Yeah. [00:27:00] And they've done a great job at creating something you can hammer the heck out of to get in the ground, but then you've gotta punch a hole and a half inch drip, put a.
[:[00:27:31] Robert Summers: It's, it's interpretive, it's, uh, integrated. It's, yeah. You know, it's all, it's part of, it's kind of like, part of it's a perfect fit, honestly, to it is to the other products. And what's cool about
[:[00:27:53] Eric Goranson: Because like you said, you had, okay, I'm gonna hook into the line. I got a fitting, I gotta go over here. I gotta have another fitting. I gotta have some spikes. [00:28:00] You have to go through all these steps where you have kind of one here. Um, you have one motion of putting that hole in it and now it's going in the ground and it's gonna stay there.
[:[00:28:28] Eric Goranson: So for a drip system, that makes sense cuz you've got clean
[:[00:28:35] Elizabeth Summers: you have a potted plant next to it so you can, we have this little. Adapter.
[:[00:28:47] Elizabeth Summers: Wow. So not only are you getting your ground cover, but also your potted plants.
[:[00:29:08] Eric Goranson: Because that's the problem with exterior, especially in an area like with you guys where the sun is just on it, you know it, there's a lifespan to it out there, and these are so big and bulky in the right kind of way. And they clean. They look super clean when they're in there. You just see this little round top right when it's installed, so it.
[:[00:29:39] Robert Summers: it's kind of a one fit. Yeah. You know what's interesting is the, again, I mean the competition has. Um, I think they have a six inch steak or aev, eight inch steak, something like that.
[:[00:30:14] Robert Summers: I mean, there are multiple ways to hook it up. Sure. But it's a pretty simple product and I, I personally found residential irrigation to be super complicated. I have,
[:[00:30:40] Eric Goranson: And I've sat through all those long classes and stuff 20 years ago, but this makes things so much more simple.
[:[00:31:01] Robert Summers: Yep. Actually, rain Bird for. Geez, I think 70 years, something like that. But, uh, you know, it's time, it's time for a change. And I, I was at, we were at one of our original trade shows with an influencer. Mm-hmm. in the irrigation Anderson. He goes, you know, it's, it's kind of sad that it takes, um, I'm talking at a school a little bit that it takes a consumer to come and shake up the irrigation industry.
[:[00:31:36] Eric Goranson: the contractor out there, which we have plenty to listen to the show, you have three products in your truck. I mean, and that's all you need for every situation. Like you said, you could have 20 with some of the other comp competitors out there.
[:[00:31:58] Robert Summers: brilliant. I'll be [00:32:00] honest with you, we love the contractors too, and. All of our bulk packaging is with them in mind. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Very simple and clean. Not a lot of fluff and musk, um, contractor pricing.
[:[00:32:29] Robert Summers: Landscape and irrigation contractor. It, it, it puts them in a great spot with their customers because it's, I mean, it's. They, they were saying it's not cutting edge. It's not technologically, you know, revolutionary. Even though I like to use the word, because I do think it's kind of revolutionary. It absolutely is.
[:[00:32:57] Eric Goranson: Well, and what's cool is, is that from the, from the [00:33:00] contractor point of view, this is simple. You guys didn't make this. Yes, you have a couple ways to do it and it's, anybody can understand it and you've got a product that's gonna work and you're saving labor for the end consumer, so they can go through, get it in there.
[:[00:33:38] Eric Goranson: And it's good because you're steering those roots where you want to
[:[00:33:56] Robert Summers: And you gotta order the right size. Ugh. Because they [00:34:00] have four or five different sizes. And if you don't order the right size, granted, you know, is the water's still gonna move? Sure. But you won't have the flow controls, you don't have the ability to actually control where the water goes and, and all you gotta do is have a case of these on the truck.
[:[00:34:19] Eric Goranson: Very simple. Yeah. So you guys have retail and you know, for the consumer packaging then, and then you've got the trade guys out there, so you can keep
[:[00:34:43] Robert Summers: Just like us. You know us. Well, those of us that think we're contractors, , and those who actually are contractors, uh, no. I want to get my C 27 license actually. There you go. Yeah, there you go. I told her I want to, I want to do it. You can do it. Because I'm going, I mean, I do go out and do some of [00:35:00] the work now.
[:[00:35:02] Eric Goranson: It's a little hard. Takes a little time to get through there, but it can
[:[00:35:12] Eric Goranson: go. There we go. Keep all the government people happy on that
[:[00:35:17] Robert Summers: Exactly. But
[:[00:35:20] Elizabeth Summers: did we mention that it's all made in the usa? Ah, there we go. Products
[:[00:35:40] Eric Goranson: Yes. You guys have such a greater control of things when it's made here in the United States because now you're not going, yeah, I got a container coming. Hold on. Seven months it'll be here. Right, right where you can go. Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, uh, I know the contain. 1500 bucks to get here, by the way.
[:[00:36:04] Elizabeth Summers: Yeah. And so we have some of it, uh, done here in Nevada. Nice. In Carson City. Um, Valencia, California. Wonderful. And Tracy, California. It's all put together and packaged and set. Chipped out from Hawthorne,
[:[00:36:21] Robert Summers: proud of.
[:[00:36:23] Eric Goranson: That's, that's
[:[00:36:30] Eric Goranson: Nice. Well, I love the Home Depot thing because you guys are now, and, and congrats on that by the way, on getting it. That's a big deal because for a, a small family run company to start to get into those guys, that's a behemoth and it's great to see you guys jumping into that because that gets you that availability out there for people to be able to.
[:[00:37:16] Robert Summers: Yeah. And, uh, they're carrying the Junior now online. Excellent. And we'll be working on getting that in stores. As well.
[:[00:37:35] Eric Goranson: Go to Home Depot and get it. Get these guys the sales, cuz I know that makes a big difference in getting them to pay attention to you. So, uh, do me a favor, do them a favor and head over that direction for that business because we gotta get these guys in every store across the country. Right. I mean, that's what we want to do.
[:[00:38:01] Robert Summers: well, it's uh, I mean, Not that everybody cares for this, so you can cut it out if you want, but minority women owned business is kind of a big deal, of course, in this country.
[:[00:38:24] Eric Goranson: You're the boss? Yeah, I'm just the ceo. Wait a minute. Wait. You're the ceo. You're the ceo. That should say Robert Wrangler
[:[00:38:31] Robert Summers: That's for sure. . That that is for sure. So that's something that's special because I think it is, you know, I, I know that, um, You know, a lot of people would think about working with their spouse and and say, that's a bad idea. Obviously you guys are kindred spirits to us. Yep. because your wife is here as well.
[:[00:39:09] Robert Summers: You know, as not just for everybody in America to be able to water and fertilize more efficiently. Right. But for our own family to have something like a piece of us that kind of lives on, and not from an ego standpoint, but like. You know, I want my, I want both. Elijah. We have two grandsons that are Elijah.
[:[00:39:57] Robert Summers: Have something that kind of carries beyond [00:40:00] us, or, or at least pays for the rest home for us. Well, .
[:[00:40:20] Eric Goranson: You know, as business owners, it's like, this is the hardest thing to do is to do what you guys are doing today because you have everything going against you. But you've created a, a very successful product that I think is just getting started out in the marketplace.
[:[00:40:46] Robert Summers: Printing company that I work for Yep. In K in Hawthorne, California. Mm-hmm. , uh, they produce all the graphics for us. Uh, they've done all the CGI work for us. Nice. And, uh, I mean, obviously I'm a customer, so I pay for it. Yeah. But, [00:41:00] uh, that's,
[:[00:41:03] Robert Summers: all that graphics.
[:[00:41:24] Robert Summers: Yes. Beautiful. So they handle all the distribution for all that. So Tony and Jessica do an amazing job for us and the.
[:[00:41:49] Eric Goranson: Thank you. Impressive stuff. All right. Thanks for coming on guys. And also make sure you head over to Home depot.com to grab this stuff or your local Home Depot if you're in [00:42:00] that. What a California, Nevada, Utah, kind of that whole area. There's a
[:[00:42:10] Robert Summers: Yeah, because it is very select stores. Yeah. But anyway,
[: