What can be done in 10 seconds? In most people's minds, 10 seconds is very short, even fleeting, to the point where they can hardly do anything. However, in the Kubuqi Desert of Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, 10 seconds is enough for local workers to plant a tree.

Thinking of planting trees, people imagine a man digging with a shovel, planting seedlings, and then watering them, which is time-consuming and laborious. While at the Kubuqi Desert, there are two methods, each taking about 10 seconds to plant a tree, with minimal soil disturbance and protection of soil moisture.

Water vapor planting method

The water vapor planting method connects a plastic water pipe about 1 meter long before a rubber water pipe as a "water gun", inject normal or high-pressure water into the gun and drill a water hole about 0.8 meters deep into the sand. Within 5 seconds, a 1-meter-long willow branch is inserted into the hole, and the tree will be planted. This process only takes 10 seconds.

Spiral drill planting method

The spiral drill planting method involves drilling holes in the sandy land using a gasoline engine to drive a spiral drill, with the drill bit ranging from 5 to 6 centimeters to over 10 cm. This way, even large saplings can be quickly planted in the desert.

The water vapor planting method and spiral drill drilling planting method have a tree survival rate of over 90 percent and 65 percent, respectively, saving 800-1,000 yuan ($112.56-140.70) in sand barrier production costs per mu (0.07 hectares). These two "minimally invasive implantation methods" are the new generation implantation techniques in Kubuqi and have been widely promoted and applied.

Click on the following videos to leran more about the two methods.