Plant a tree for life, not just for Tree Planting Day

Plenty of people will be heading to mountainous areas today to plant a tree for Tree Planting Day. However, before you join them and invest your time and money into the exercise, make sure that your efforts are not in vain. It would be a shame to plant a tree that does not survive.

So how can you plant a tree in the right way and make sure it stays alive not just for a day but for months, if not years? Lifestyle talked to Jiang Gaoming, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Botany, who gave us some tips on tree planting.

The success of the tree starts even before any planting is involved. It is crucial to choose the right tree for the right environment. For example, if the climate is cold, you probably want to plant a pine tree over a palm tree. Jiang suggested people should choose trees that are local to Beijing to plant. "Trees like the Chinese scholartree, poplars and weeping willows can survive more easily because the climate is suitable for them here in Beijing," Jiang said. "You also need to choose smaller saplings instead of half-grown ones for a higher survival rate," he continued.

The next stage is for people to choose a suitable place to plant the saplings. Usually an ideal place is where the earth is thick. When a good location is earmarked, the next step is to dig a deep hole. "Usually the saplings will come with their roots wrapped in earth, so the hole you dig should be larger than the wrapped roots," Jiang said.

"Then one person should hold the top of the sapling and make sure it is vertical, while others cover the roots in soil." This step is often messed up by people. According to Jiang, many people lift the sapling high up to let the roots stretch out. But Jiang warns that by doing this, the roots can get hurt, thus making it hard for the sapling to survive. "The roots are delicate, so to suddenly separate them can be fatal," he explained.

Once the roots are covered, the soil above needs to be tightly packed. "People often think that water can go deeper when going through loose soil, but loose soil is at risk of erosion," Jiang warned. "So it's better to let people stamp on the soil to make it firm and even."

After the soil is all in place, the new tree should be thoroughly watered. According to Jiang, the dry spring that the north part of China experiences is a huge threat to newly planted trees and most of the trees will die if they do not receive adequate water. "They need plenty of water, so you need to keep watering them until the water can no longer be absorbed by the soil," Jiang said.

If you think the tree planting exercise has now finished, you would be wrong. Having witnessed many trees dying not long after Tree Planting Day, Jiang expressed that people should water trees at least every two weeks. "If people don't have time to take care of the trees themselves, they need to consign the task to local people or an administrator to let them water the trees instead," Jiang explained. "Since it won't rain much until June, the trees will easily die during the three dry months if they are not given adequate water."

All in all, it might not be rocket science, but these steps are all crucial. Providing you follow them, you will be able to watch your own tree grow and help make Beijing a more green city.