Low-Water Nursery Growing System for Plants Used in Landscaping The Southface Eco-Office project is requesting an Innovation and Design credit for the use of Gro-Eco plants in their landscaping. Growing plants for market in this manner requires four and a half times less water daily, and requires up to thirty percent less growing time when compared to traditional methods using overhead irrigation. The estimated water savings for the 400 plants used on site, with an average growing period of a year, was almost 70,000 gallons. The Gro-Eco system uses raised beds that are built and covered with weed cloth. Pockets are then dug in the beds to accommodate nursery pots of various sizes - only the upper third of each pot extends above the top of the bed. Irrigation drip tape runs down each row of plants along the tops of the containers, while another drip tube, buried under the cloth in the center of the bed, helps keep the roots cool. Moderating the temperature of the roots improves the health of the plants and further reduces the amount of water needed. Auxiliary benefits of such a system include: thirty to forty percent less chemical use and drastically reduced runoff, elimination of retention ponds and nitrogen leaching, less need for fungicide due to the elimination of excess moisture on leaves, lower energy costs, and less invasive site design due to the flexibility in drainage topography. For more information on the Gro-Eco process, please view the Florida Agriculture video produced for the 2007 Environmental Leadership Award. http://www.florida-agriculture.com/news/agen_fraleighnursery.htm The requirements for this credit would be to document all plants obtained from Gro-Eco for use on the Eco-Office project, and to provide evidence of the estimated water savings being claimed.