Planting Trees For The Future Generations

It’s that time of the year again where the green industry plays an important role in reminding people about the importance of planting trees.

Arbour Week has been celebrated since 1800, founded by two lovers of nature, husband and wife team Julius and Carrie Sterling Morton. They were distressed by the lack of trees in Nebraska and quickly planted trees, shrubs and flowers in their own garden to start out with. Soon the trend followed.

“Trees were needed as windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and for building materials, as well as for shade from the hot sun,” says daff.gov.za

Plant a tree

It is the year 2021, and we are still encouraged to plant trees for reasons that will remain pertinent forever. It is said that you do not plant a tree for yourself to enjoy, but for the enjoyment of future generations. Therefore, it is important to make sure that we have trees standing and providing us with shade for generations to come.

Trees are important to us for the following reasons:

1. Trees help to hold soil in place and prevent soil erosion.
2. Trees are an important habitat for wildlife; some animals spend their entire life living in trees and others depend on the forest for survival.
3. Trees feed us – just think of all the nutritious fruit and nuts we pick from trees.
4. Trees help increase property value by 5% ,or even higher depending on the size of the tree.
5. Trees help with saving energy by providing shade in summer and blocking strong winds in winter, therefore saving us energy we spend trying to cool and heat our spaces.
6. Trees help reduce loud noises in urban areas when planted strategically.
7. Some trees provide medicine for our use, such as tea tree and moringa trees.

The list of benefits from trees is much longer than these 10 point, such as how they help to regulate local water cycles by holding the water, therefore preventing flooding and maintaining water vapour in the air!

How to plant a tree

Plantland has a wide selection of trees available to choose from. You can choose indigenous trees or deciduous trees, flowering or evergreen. Just make sure you choose a tree you will enjoy looking at for years to come.

Tree planting procedure:

1. Dig a hole twice the height and width of the container of the tree. Fill the hole with water.
2. Mix the soil with a nutritious soil (like Malanseuns Compost) and add some bonemeal to the mixture to ensure healthy root growth.
3. Remove the tree from all packaging and place it in the hole, then fill up with soil to the top of the tree roots.
4. Press down firmly to ensure the tree is stable. Build a dam around the hole, to make sure the water will drain to the roots when watering.
5. Water your tree thoroughly twice a week until the tree can sustain itself.
6. Fertilise with 2:3:2 fertiliser when needed.

Trees are good.

Planting trees, even just one or two, can make a huge difference. Trees are our lifeline to cleaner air and a healthier environment as trees improve air quality by producing oxygen. We need trees now more than ever! Teaching our children from little to appreciate trees will do the world good. View our wide range of trees on plantland.co.za or in store