Just make sure you plant native trees! The last thing we need is invasive species.
We’ve only got shitty monospecies forests where I live, due to commercial usage. I’m thinking, we could add an invasive species, as a treat. 🙃
Recommend reading “the secret life of trees” to learn about how important the diversity of forests is. The trees evolved to compete with each other, and as a result somewhat rely on the behaviors of old growth forests.
Really interesting book. Nonfiction.
Instructions unclear, open space has been taken over by tree of heaven and bamboo.
The arboretum near my house sells native plants for pretty cheap, I just bought a couple (although not the best time to be planting, but I put these in shaded areas and they’re doing ok so far)
This is the way! And it’s surprising how many gorgeous native species of flowers exist.
Too hot in many places to plant right now but it’s a good time to plan for a fall planting! Anyone can do it, just need to look around your community for open spaces and then contact the org or person who manages it to get permission.
If anyone has questions on tree planting or needs advice I’ve done quite a lot of it and would be happy to help advise.
What trees can I plant seeds for to become trees without permission? Are there wildflower seed bombs but for trees?
If the land is maintained they just end up getting cut, if it’s not maintained then nature will do its thing or taking saplings from a nearby forest works great, they risk dying unless the bigger trees die first so it gives them space to grow instead.
Baby trees rely on the shade of their parents (or rather older established trees. It takes a village…) to regulate growth. If they get too much sun and grow too fast, they grow up weak.
You could try but generally this isn’t the best way to establish trees. Type would be something well adapted to your climate that germinates easily. Can you provide any climate or regional information? In much of North America acorns would probably be the best choice but keep in mind they are perishable so you need to store them in a moist, cool environment until you can distribute them.
I’ve been trying to brainstorm a way to help get trees established from seed actually. Maybe installing some kind of little stick cage to protect them and create a more moist, shady environment might help.
Normally I grow them in my backyard in pots first, then plant them. Much higher rate of success this way but nothing wrong with experimenting with seeds.
7a/6b Midwest USA.
I generally have a few volunteer trees of an unknown variety grow in my garden each year that I move elsewhere come gardening time. The local squirrels are very reliable at planting a wide variety of plants in my garden that I don’t actually want there…
So oaks are great in the Midwest. You could try collecting acorns from nearby trees in the fall and tossing them over a fence to see if they grow.
However, if you live in a naturally forested area, it’s often more important to remove invasive species and prevent people from killing young trees than to plant new ones. If you see a lot or park that seems promising, see if you can connect with the manager of the space to see if they would allow you to clear out some weeds and give baby trees space to grow. You’ll need to learn to recognize the desirable and undesirable species to do this.
In more manicured, urban spaces, it’s often necessary to plant larger trees since smaller ones will simply get mowed over. Sometimes there are local orgs that give them away for free, or you can collect seeds and put them in pots to grow them out, though that does take an extra level of knowledge to do correctly.
“You should plant trees”
Me: distributes acorns over a thousand square feet of asphalt and cement
Still no shade
Any other suggestions?
Site prep is key, so make sure to bring a sledgehammer.
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got 'til it’s gone?
You smash parking lots to put up a paradise.
I’ve planted seven trees in the house where I’ve been living for the past fourteen years. The yard is so much more pleasant and fresh since they thrived and grown.
Sounds dreamy. I mean, just catching a house to call home sounds dreamy but one with enough wiggle room to plant a bunch of trees is a treat. Still recall living with the folks when they tossed trees in the yard. Watching them grow up is awesome.
I planted 100 this year and might plant another hundred next year if I can decide where to put them. Probably on my neighbors property (it’s abandoned).
I’ll be honest, I’ve always been dubious of the idea that we can pump all the carbon shit into the air we want if we just plant enough trees to eat it. It sounds like a dodge, akin to clean coal.
Maybe start from stop pumping all this carbon shit into the air, and take the commensurate lifestyle changes as the cost of our species surviving.
That said, it’s extremely clear the long term survival of humanity on our only habitat isn’t a priority for humanity.
Happy Prime Day everyone!
I don’t know anyone who advocates for “pump carbon into the atmosphere as long as you plant trees”.
I would think most environmentalists are more like “let’s pump less carbon into the atmosphere and plant more trees.”
Like, what’s the downside here? There’s more trees? That’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
The downside from what I’ve observed is that many organizations correctly believe that they can pollute with abandon and put out the public relations pushback with the promise of trees.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/planting-trees-climate-change-carbon-capture-deforestation
It sends a problem solved message. Yes, plant trees, trees are awesome. Trees won’t save us from those emissions though.
The downside from what I’ve observed is that many organizations correctly believe that they can pollute with abandon and put out the public relations pushback with the promise of trees.
Sure. But then they don’t plant the trees, either. They just kick money into a fund that runs ads about planting trees.
The root of the problem isn’t the tree planting vs. carbon emitting, its the industrial scale lying and bullshitting.
You’re right organizations do this and I also get that for anyone paying even a little attention the climate situation is maddening.
That said, I don’t think your original comment was addressing the content of this meme as much as a perceived argument.
I think this is referring to the shade benefits, not carbon capture.
Individual one-off trees in residential areas are negligible from a carbon point of view.
Reforesting agricultural land by reducing meat consumption would make a huge difference, particularly in the Amazon (#1 cause of deforestation in the Amazon is for beef production). Livestock farming uses around 50% of all agricultural land globally, while plant based proteins use a small fraction of that. Reforesting also has the benefits of improved biodiversity.
Reforestation still lowers temperatures on the surface because of shade.
Increases humidity though.
So uh 🤷♀️
That said, it’s extremely clear the long term survival of humanity on our only habitat isn’t a priority for humanity.
For some large organisations and governments, maybe, but the majority of people see climate action as a priority:
Depends where you plant them
That’s what I love about these sapling trees, man. I get older, they stay the same age.
Lemme know if your humidity lowers
well i use ecosia, so indirectly.
If I could, I would.
I was camping under the trees in Kentucky last week. It was not cool.
