In what is either a groundbreaking form of drip irrigation, or a practice that needs to be nipped in the bud, the article Transplanted trees receive ‘intravenous drip’ in NW China highlights a practice that local official are using to help ensure trees survival:

Workers with the municipal bureau of parks and woods of Xi’an have been hanging plastic bags or glass bottles filled with nutrition ingredients or pesticide on many of the 16,052 transplanted trees since October, Chen Xianzhang, vice head of the municipal bureau of parks and woods, told Xinhua.

The trees have been thriving and many are burgeoning in spring, said Chen, adding that the bureau will make the method a long-term practice.

I am not sure if this is a practice that is widely accepted, however as the desertification of NW China continues, and new solutions need to be found, I found this a rather genius to leverage technologies like drip irrigation to further manage the health of the trees.

Would be very interesting to see how this practice impacts overall need for pesticides, and the follow on water pollution