I wish I would have had the foresight to plant a few thousand trees when I was in my teens or twenties. The thought did cross my mind, but then where should I plant them and who would look after them? I had never lived at a place long enough to actually watch a tree grow. But it's the same as with a whole bunch of things in life. It's never too late.
Ten years ago, after we built our house and office right in the middle of rice field country, we could see a visitor approaching from about a mile away. Then a neighbor offered us a number of teak saplings that the government was giving away. I took the opportunity and planted a few of them along our acces road and the back of the property. After a while they began to obscure the view, but now they are so tall, the leaves and branches are much higher up. Now we see our visitors arriving past strong tree trunks. In the meantime I got the knack of it, found the source of the saplings and planted a virtual forest of mixed deciduous trees, ornamental trees, fruit trees, palm trees and bamboo. We live in green woods now, surrounded by rice fields.
Watching this forest grow provided the incentive to start another one.
Planting Location
We were lucky to acquire a 10 rai (4 acres /1.6 hectare) plot of land close to extended family rice farming land. It's outside of our own province. The plot has a slight slope, sandy earth and is not irrigated. It had been used for growing cassava and tobacco. That means heavy toiling with little income. Why not plant our forest there? After some deliberation and convincing everyone agreed: It's a good idea. We all understand this is a long term project. Some of the family see this as an investment, others as a contribution to environmental sustainability, many see it as both. It doesn't really matter. We are planting trees. Our kids will decide what happens when they are grown up.
Planting Distance
In our very first planting ten years ago I planted our teak trees at 3 meters distance. When you see those saplings in the ground at that distance the novice that I was judged that a bit far, so in some instances it became 2.5 meters. Mistake. When the tree grows, it becomes very clear that its in fact all those wide branches on top that should guide the planting distance. Despite the 3 meters guidance, we're going for about 4 meters this time, planted not in rows, but randomly. We don't want a plantation, we want a mixed forest. The wider distance also makes it easier for a tractor to cut grass and undergrowth during the time when the trees are still young. Highly necessary, because fast growing weeds and climbing plants can very quickly stifle and kill off a young tree, especially during the rainy season. More mature trees are much less affected by climbing plants, apparently the plants have more difficulty wrapping themselves around the larger tree trunk, and clearly the shade of larger trees provides a different type of undergrowth.
At 4 meter distance we fit 4 trees on 4x4 meters, that is a 16 square meter area. Our 10 rai area is 16,000 square meters. We need 1,000 trees. Where do we find 1,000 mixed forest tree saplings?
The Source
Kiau makes some calls to government agencies. Perseverance is the key to success. All calls point us to the Regional "Plant Seedling Station". But we cannot reach any of the numbers given to us. It's about an hours drive, more plus than minus.
I suggest to take a trip and go there. Kiau, Miau, Suni's daughter, TaSuk and I, the car is packed. Its the hot season, Miau's brand new Almera, bought on credit, is comfortable and cool. We drive to Khon Kaen: https://goo.gl/maps/igPjFdhuq452. We arrive at about 10:00 o'clock in the morning, the place appears deserted. The entrance doors are not locked so we go inside. Anybody here? Nothing. Taking the right hallway we venture upon a laboratory. Two ladies are inside, a bit surprised at our sudden appearance. Kiau and Miau have a long talk with them. I venture back and take the other corridor, pass offices, there's nobody here, everyone is in the field. A large meeting room on the left. The large map on the back wall attracts my attention. It's the entire northeast region. This particular office's location is marked with the largest dot. We're at the regional headquarters covering several provinces! I see lots of other smaller dots. Some are marked with small sapling symbols. Nurseries! Ha, and there's one not far from the family village. Yes, I admit, I know these types of offices quite well. Whatever we do, we will also see that nursery. Seeing is believing.
The laboratory ladies turned out friendly, helpful and provided a lot of information. Yes we could get tree saplings and they were free of charge. All saplings would be ready at the start of the rainy season, at the beginning of July. We would have to wait. A thousand mixed saplings would not be a problem, a chart on the wall showed the available species. We were invited to phone in to confirm the pick-up date. Great! We also got the phone number of the nursery I spied on the large map, and yes the tree saplings would be available there too.
I suggested that we visit the smaller local nursery. After some calls, it turned out to be right along the road back home: https://goo.gl/maps/GZayDBWw5PL2. I was very impressed. Hundreds of thousands of tree saplings in neat sections and rows, clearly marked. We did not even venture into the small office. Several specialists were tending to the saplings. So many hardwood species. This was really it! I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.
1,800 Tree Saplings
We calculated that the 1,000 saplings would easily fit into the family pickup. Miau would pick them up when they were ready. All we needed to do now was prepare the area and hope for first rains. TaSuk evened the earth with his tractor. Rain came. On the confirmed date Miau picked the trees up, and she actually brought back 1,800 tree saplings. TaSuk organized a family, extended family and non family group to plant the trees, and made sure everyone had proper instructions. It appeared that half the village was interested to get into the act! On 10 July 2016 we planted our 1,000 trees, and another 800 trees were planted on family, friends and other land, lining rice fields and roads. In fact we almost doubled our environmental impact!
One Month Later
On 10 August it looks like our trees are all doing well. The rains have been fine. TaSuk cuts the grass by tractor, and a group of village friends take care of weeds near the saplings by hand. This will be necessary for the first few years, but its an affordable expense. On the downside, I was not there during the actual planting. It should have been apparent that rice farmers aren't overly accustomed to randomness, so there's a slight impression of, ahem, rows! That can be improved the next time around.
January 2017
We have passed the rainy season and gone into cool season. Weeds were mowed. The cool season has seen some rain. Our saplings are growing into stronger, larger plants and doing well.
January 2021
The forest is growing nicely, on its own. Grass cutting has stopped. Lot's of new young trees are shooting out of the ground. A fully random mixed forest is in the making.
The Trees
The trees we decided on are basically forest hardwood trees that are suitable for the local sandy soil.
- Pradu Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz, aka Burmese Padauk. Indigenous to the area. Yellow flowers. Termite resistant.
- Yang Na Dipterocarpus alatus, Endangered. Very tall and thick. Long ground roots. Helicopter seeds.
- Ma Ka Mong Afzelia xylocarpa (Kurz) Craib., Endangered. Grows tall and thick. Medicinal bark and seeds.
- Pa Yung Dalbergia cochinchinensis Pierre, Vulnerable /threatened. Aka Siamese Rosewood. Wide, very dense, hard, beautiful. Grown trees must now be guarded.
- Inthanil Lagerstroemia speciosa (L.) Pers. Buddhist significance, purple flowers, medicinal herbal tea.
- Phai Luag Thyrsostachys siamensis Gamble. Tree-like tall bamboo, fast growing. Good poles, edible shoots.
- Care Na Dolichandrone serrulata (Wall. ex DC.) Seem. Tall and thick growing tree, edible white flowers.
The Cost
Locating the source, preparing the land, planting the trees, and initial maintenance has been less than 25 dollar cents ($0.25) per tree. As a family supported initiative, future maintenance needs are largely non-cash. The bulk of the cash-out was the piece of land, at the approximate value of a new subcompact car. With my 1998 CRV still doing fine, I much prefer this brand new forest patch.
The Future
The new forest paradise is in the making. And I'm ready for the next tree planting project!
New Project
The new tree planting project started in 2019, on a 8.5 acres (3.5 hectare) plot of land bought from two elderly farmers who in earlier times kept a few cows here. More than double the size of the earlier plot, the land itself was quite a cost factor. But it does fit a lot of trees! For our newest area, we've improved the randomness of planting, with a nice clearing in the middle for a traditional pole house, garden and solar array sometime in the future.
New Project - 2021
The new project has not done as well as the first, by far. It appears th-e soil was quite degraded from intensive farming. We're not sure about the quality of the seedlings this time. Only about 15% of trees survived the first year. However, also here, indigenous new trees are emerging. We'll need to take this project at a slower pace. Sunn Hemp - Crotalaria juncea is now rejuvenating the soil.
Notes - Grow saplings: Diospyros malabarica - Thai: มะพลับ - Ma Plab; Malabar Ebony Radermachera ignea - Thai: ปีบทอง - Pip Thong; Tree Jasmine Ficus religiosa - Thai: ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ์ - Ton Pra Si Mahapo; Bodhi Tree Mesusa ferrea - Thai: ปุนนาค - Bunnak; Cobra's Saffron, Ceylon Ironwood Aquilaria malaccensis - Thai: กฤษณา - Kris Sa Na;
Do It Yourself
Yes, wherever you live and work, you can plant trees, too. You can either buy a piece of land and plant trees on it, or you can ask an international conservation organization to do the planting for you: Plant trees, protect and preserve an acre of forest by buying it, and credibly offset carbon emissions of your individual energy use and transportation: World Land Trust can do it for you, with simple, straightforward donations.
You can also help restore Vietnamese forest areas along the Ho Chi Minh trail that were destroyed by Agent Orange in the Vietnam war.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/planting-trees-not-simple-climate-fix_n_601c1627c5b6c0af54d17e98