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3 reasons why your treeUT needs a planting record sheet
It may not seem obvious now, but in the future you’ll be really glad you started one!
Maybe. But before we get on to the whys and wherefores, what is a planting record sheet?
Simply put, it’s a table that records which seeds were planted, when they were planted and by whom. You could also add secondary information (where the seeds came from, if you treated them in some way before planting etc.).
Okay, but why do we need this information?
This is where our three good reasons come in.
1 To keep track of the project
As explained elsewhere on this site, setting up your own treeUT is quick and very simple. But the project itself is for the long term – it’ll be at least a couple of years before your first saplings are ready to give away, and by that time you will have planted a fair a number of seeds.
You’ll never be able to remember which seeds are in which pots unless you keep some kind of record.
2 To improve technique
Since we’re all new to the game, the focus will be on learning and improving as we go along. There’ll be lots of questions that need to be answered, for instance:
Which seeds grow best?
What time of year is best for planting?
Do certain seed preparation techniques (such as soaking) improve germination rates?
We’re certain recording what we do and monitoring its effectiveness will help us improve our methodology over time. And every time we, or you, learn something useful, we can share it with everyone else.
3 To keep a history of the project
A record sheet is one way of keeping an ongoing history of the project and those involved in it. Which is why we always include names as well as dates. It will be a nice way of jogging memories as we look back in years to come
You might also want to keep a scrap book for informal, ad hoc jottings. And don’t forget to take photos as you go along!
Okay, that seems fair enough. So how do I do it?
There’s an example of one of our own record sheets available on the Do-it-Yourself page. You don’t have to follow this model but it’s somewhere to start.
The treeUT Project goes international!
Not one, but two new branches of treeUT have recently been created
David Gregory, January 2, 2024
A few months after our launch in September the world’s first two ‘branches’ (pun intended) of The treeUT Project have been launched. To be honest, although I’d always envisaged the treeUT concept catching on sooner or later – after all it’s a great way of making the world a better place with very little effort – I didn’t expect things to happen this quickly.
I’d already put a couple of ‘feelers’ out amongst schools close to the IUT, but we had no takers. So I suppose it might seem a little odd that our first ever branch was started on the Greek island of Rhodes.
Why Rhodes of all places?
The simple answer is I had some contacts out there, and when I told them about The treeUT Project, they wanted to give it a try. Let’s face it, when it comes to planting new trees, Rhodes really could use all the help it can get. The terrible fires of 2023 had such a terrible environmental as well as human cost, but even before that, the island, like many parts of the Mediterranean, had lost much of its original habitat. Once much of Rhodes was covered in forest, predominantly Turkey oak, whereas now almost none remains. Wouldn’t it be great to try and restore the original forest to at least a few parts of the island?
The first three Turkey oaks. Hopefully the first of many.
The Rhodes branch is based at St Anne’s church. As you can see from the picture above, it doesn’t look like much, but that’s exactly how a treeUT is supposed to look at the beginning. And herein lies the beauty of the project: all you need to get one going is a few seeds, a bit of soil and a couple of old plant pots. Are you really telling me you couldn’t do that yourself?
Anyway, I’m hoping next year St Anne’s might get some of the local schools and businesses interested in setting up their own treeUTs. And then we can start thinking about making Rhodes green again.
The second branch is much closer to home, but hardly on our doorstep in Nantes. Caroline and Denis are friends from Annecy, in the French Alps. I met up with them over the holiday period, and when I told them about the project they were immediately on board. They got home on New Year’s Eve and planted up a few pots the very next day to become the first treeUT of 2024.
Caroline and Denis have shown that anyone can start a treeUT. You don’t necessarily have to be part of an organisation or a business – individuals or families can join in too.
We’re confident others will follow their example in 2024.
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