Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/155925
CIT. Funded by Morrill, the research began with a small pilot field study in 2008 and was followed up with additional testing in 2009 and 2010. (Full study results are posted on EcoFlow's website). To find out more, I spoke with CIT research assistant Diganta Adhikari, who worked with director Dr. David F. Zoldoske on the studies. One experiment showed that the conditioned water consistently percolated better through randomized, similar plots of soil. "You could be losing some nutrients, but if you're in some of those places like the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, where the soil is particularly loaded with selenium, boron and other salts you are trying to flush down, then this (treatment) is beneficial, because you're able to push these through much faster and maintain a healthier root zone environment," Adhikari said. A subsequent experiment compared conditioned water to nonconditioned water for growing tomatoes over eight randomized 20-acre plots. Results showed that an equivalent crop could be obtained using 20% less water, when the water was conditioned with an EcoFlow unit. Asked if he agreed with the explanation on EcoFlow's website on how the devices work, Adhikari said, "The biggest problem with this technology right now is that it is a black box. At this point, I don't know how to explain what it does." IN THE FIELD Matthew Hand is a Southern California avocado farmer near Carlsbad, who purchased a 13-acre grove of avocado trees about 10 years ago. A few years back, he bought a HydroChanger (now known as EcoFlow) catalytic water conditioning unit for a 3-inch main water pipe that irrigates his entire ranch, for about $10,000. He uses mineral-rich Colorado River water to irrigate his crops, and when he acquired the ranch, the avocado trees were already suffering from a root rot disease called Phytopthora. The EcoFlow device is currently being used in avocado groves. Photo: Thinkstock.com A GEOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE In a further attempt to demystify the science behind the EcoFlow device, I called Dr. Sam Earman, a geology professor and hydrology expert at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Although the CIT studies seem to support the effectiveness of the device, Earman said he isn't satisfied with the company website's explanation of how it works. "All water is polar," he explained. "Microwave ovens work based on the principle that water is polarized. (A water molecule) looks like a Mickey Mouse hat. You have a larger oxygen atom and two smaller hydrogen atoms that end up binding to one side of the oxy- 50 V I N E YARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT | gen. The hydrogen side has a net positive charge, and the oxygen side has a net negative charge." He continued: "In step three, they talk about ionization. Ion exchange is used extensively in water treatment, but it's certainly something where you have something that needs to be 'changed,' said Earman, noting that he doesn't believe this process is consistent with EcoFlow's claims that its device is maintenance-free, because that process exchanges certain materials for others. "They say that they're doing ion exchange. That might work great at first, but it can't last forever without replacing the thing." Sept - Oct 2013 Earman does find the studies intriguing. "It sounds like they have good results, which are actually affecting soil behavior. The clay particles have these negative charges, which tend to push the clay away. If like charges repel, the clays spread out, and it's tough to get water to flow in between. But what you want to get is the clay particles to clump up, so if you get some positive particles in between, the clays can clump up and you're left with some pathways for the water to flow through. There's some science behind it, and Fresno State's not crooked," Earman concluded, offering an alternative explanation of the device. – T.T. w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m