LeAnn Demasi · Pumpkin Grower
A grower who ran the unit as a deliberate stress test, withholding nitrogen entirely to see what the water alone would carry. The crop still met retail size spec on roughly half the water of a side-by-side control paddock.
Conducted by Field interview with LeAnn Demasi conducted by Jody Spencer of President Water. Grower estimates from soil probe monitoring, not metered or independently verified.
- LOCATION
- Donnybrook, Western Australia
- PERIOD
- One planting of five annual rotations, 2025-2026 season
- EQUIPMENT
- President Water vortex generator on the irrigation line
Read the underlying report
Every figure on this page is traceable to the documents below. Nothing is modelled, estimated, or extrapolated.
CITATIONDemasi, L. (2026). President Water Vortex Devices, Customer Field Interview. Interviewed by Jody Spencer, Donnybrook, Western Australia, 2025-2026 season.
What the trial measured
Water and fertilizer under a deliberate stress test
THE STANDOUT RESULT- The vortex paddock used roughly half the water of the non-vortex control, estimated from soil probe monitoring and irrigation scheduling.
- No nitrogen was applied after planting. The unit was relied on exclusively through the growing cycle.
- Standard slow-release granular fertilizer went in pre-plant under the ground, as per the grower's normal practice.
- Potassium and phosphorus were added late once fruit sizing lagged, to lift sugar ahead of harvest.
- A directly comparable control paddock without a unit was irrigated and monitored side by side on the same protocols.
- Demasi describes the approach as pushing the vortex to its max, deliberately, to isolate what it actually contributes.
Crop outcome
- Fruit met the 1 to 2kg commercial size specification for supply to major retail via a market agent.
- Sugar came in slightly under target, which the grower attributes to the deliberately minimal fertilizer regime rather than the device.
- A month after water and fertilizer inputs stopped, plants were still actively flowering and setting new fruit.
- The grower had not observed that behavior in prior seasons.
Disease pressure and water reserve
- Spray frequency came off a strict 14-day cycle, alternating conventional and biological products.
- Demasi attributes the reduction to healthier, less water-stressed plants rather than to any direct effect on pathogens.
- An on-farm dam held water later into the season than usual.
- That supported a secondary turnip and swede planting which would not normally have been possible.
“The less water, the plant is healthier, statistically less disease, so less water, less spray.”
Most testimonials show you a crop that got everything it needed plus the new device. This one did the opposite. Demasi withheld nitrogen entirely to find out what the water was actually carrying, which is a more useful test than a best-case run and a braver one commercially.
It still made spec. Fruit hit the 1 to 2kg window that major retail buys on, with sugar slightly short, and she attributes the sugar gap to her own fertilizer decision rather than the equipment. A grower who separates those two things is worth listening to.
The water number is the headline and the softest figure here. Roughly half the control paddock, estimated from soil probes and scheduling rather than a meter. It is a real side-by-side comparison, which puts it ahead of most testimonials, and it is still an estimate.
What it does not establish is why. Less disease is attributed to less water stress, not measured against pathogen counts. The flowering a month after inputs stopped is one observation on one walk-through in one season. She is clear that the trial was intentionally aggressive and not a controlled scientific comparison, and that framing should travel with the numbers.
Trial at a glance
- OPERATION
- Pumpkin grower, five crop rotations annually, Donnybrook, Western Australia
- SCOPE
- One planting of the five run through the vortex unit
- COMPARISON
- A directly comparable control paddock, no unit, same irrigation and monitoring protocols
- FERTILIZER
- Pre-plant slow-release granular only. No nitrogen top-up at any point
- LATE INPUTS
- Potassium and phosphorus added late to correct fruit sizing and sugar
- WATER MEASUREMENT
- Soil probe monitoring and irrigation scheduling. Grower estimate, not metered
- MARKET SPEC
- 1 to 2kg fruit for supply to major retail through a market agent
- SPRAY REGIME
- Off a strict 14-day cycle, alternating conventional and biological
- INTERVIEWER
- Jody Spencer, President Water
- FORMAT
- Unedited full-length field interview, roughly 20 minutes
Findings that cut against the headline. We publish them because a grower deciding on a retrofit deserves the whole picture.
- Single season, single grower, not replicated. The trial was deliberately run under extreme conditions with no supplemental nitrogen.
- Water saving is a grower estimate from field observation and soil probe monitoring, not metered or independently verified data.
- Fruit finished slightly under target sugar. The grower attributes this to the minimal fertilizer regime, but the trial cannot separate that from any other factor.
- Reduced spray need is attributed to healthier plants rather than measured against disease incidence or pathogen counts.
- The interview was conducted by a President Water representative, which is a source of framing bias in what gets asked and recorded.
President Water Company · presidentwater.com · LeAnn Demasi · Pumpkin Grower, One planting of five annual rotations, 2025-2026 season