Newly-Planted Trees Should Be Taken Care Of

Newly-planted Trees Should Be Taken Care Of
By Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.

Majority of the planting trees activities conducted in the various part of my province lack the necessary caring of the newly-planted trees. A big percentage of the small trees that were planted were left on their own to grow. As if planting hundreds and thousands on them on vacant lots and along the highways is the end of it all.
If those who are leading this kind of environmental protection are really very serious they should consider caring of the newly-planted trees seedlings in different places. Before conducting a tree planting as part of a city, municipal or provincial anniversary or celebration, or in support of a government’s program in the conservation of our environment, a certain group should be assigned in every area to take care of the newly-planted trees. Leaders of the Environmental Groups should instruct them to water the small trees everyday until such time that it will reach an indicative height that it can be left alone sans regular watering.
Fifty percent or even more mortality of the newly-planted trees have been discovered by the groups of environmentalists upon ocular inspections as revealed to yours truly a few years ago during an interview for an article in the progress of tree planting activities conducted in several occasions in the province of Southern Leyte.
When I was working at DENR during the previous years, contract projects in various reforestation programs in different parts of Southern Leyte have been taken care of by the contractors themselves. Once small tree seedlings were planted in large hectarage whether it were mahogany,,G-melina,lawauan,molave,narra, including mango, jackfruit trees, etcetera, contractors’ hired workers would always take care of the planted trees by watering it everyday, whenever there is no rain. However, mortality still occurred despite of the caring, but in a very low percentage compared to those trees that were just left alone after planting them.
In DENR’s reforestation projects, purchase of organic or inorganic fertilizers were inclusive for the contractors’ management application s in all of the projects involved to help make the hundreds and thousands planted small trees grow faster. Likewise, in any planting activities done by either the NGOs or a government group outside the reforestation projects of DENR, they can also use either organic or inorganic fertilizers if they have the funds. If hardly they can afford for its fertilizers’ maintenance until it will grow enough to stand on its own, then watering everyday the newly-planted small trees will be quite enough to let it grow into maturity..
By this measure, the numerous tree-planting activities done in various places of the province and in the entire country lead by either a Barangay Captain, Mayor, Governor or Congressman will not be all in vain. Their conscientious caring for the planted small tree seedlings in various annual tree-planting activities nationwide would mean additional man-made forests as potential replacements for our unimaginably colossal deforested areas. Likewise, in order to realize the environmentalists global desire and the peoples’ concern to achieve such vision, a selective log ban should be implemented by the Governments of nations where its mountains have become bald because of indiscriminate cutting of forest trees, whether legal or illegal, and that huge deforestation have also occurred.
The newly-approved Philippine law on “One Million trees” should serve as an inspiration to all earthlings and should encourage the peoples of the whole world and their respective governments and the private sectors to plant millions of trees on their vacant lots and denuded forests. If put into realization, the millions and millions of trees planted will serve as absorbers of carbon dioxide in our environment and provide us with the needed oxygen. It will also help as our protective shields in our polluted surroundings..( Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)