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Tree exchange service

Put unwanted trees to good use, and save $$$
  (+8, -2)
(+8, -2)
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against]

I recently had to pay a landscaper to cut down two big trees in my front yard. Their falling leaves caused me lots of extra work in the fall, the pollen from the trees stained my roof shingles in the spring, and their shade made it really hard to grow a proper lawn underneath them. My tree-hugger sister from california was aghast that I “killed two perfectly good trees”.

So I now propose an internet forum similar to craigslist where someone could post details of an unwanted tree. Enviromental activists would monitor the site for new postings in their area. They would collaborate and organize a crack team of tree-huggers to swarm to the tree’s location. While wearing workboots made of natural hemp fibers, they would dig up the tree and cart it away on a truck that had been converted to run on used cooking oil instead of diesel. They would backfill the hole with compost from their kitchen scraps.

It’s a win-win situation. I wouldn’t have to pay a contractor to get rid of my trees, the tree-huggers would get a new friend to re-plant somewhere, and mother earth doesn’t lose another tree.

ServoMan314, Jun 19 2008

A crack team of tree movers: http://www.treemover.com/
They've even moved giant trees "in excess of one million pounds". [Amos Kito, Jun 19 2008]

All about transplanting trees. http://www.ag.ndsu....ci/trees/f1147w.htm
"A general rule is for each inch in caliper, a year is required for transplant recovery" [Amos Kito, Jun 19 2008]

[link]






       if you spit the cost of moving the tree with the new owner (still cheaper than having it cut down) I could see this working.
dev45, Jun 19 2008
  

       //cheaper than having it cut down//
[dev45], I'd expect it to be many times the expense of cutting it down. The tree takes years to recover [see Link 2], possibly won't survive the move, and then need to be cut down. It makes more sense to buy a healthy tree and plant it. But the result will be more work and stains.
Amos Kito, Jun 19 2008
  

       Yes but full grown trees are expensive.   

       and most people do not want to plant small trees and let them grow   

       I have seen many full grow trees transplanted professionally some 50+ feet and with proper care they have little difficulty getting use to there new home   

       You can not buy a tree 30' or taller vary often from a tree farm. and if you did you still have to pay for the transplant.   

       OK you might not pay all of the cost that might be more though my church payed over $3,000 to have a pine removed.
dev45, Jun 19 2008
  

       In spite of the caveats given, I love the idea of trading trees. I would have traded all those carob trees and their unholy smell. [+]
Klaatu, Jun 19 2008
  

       you should have listend to your sister.
simonj, Jun 20 2008
  

       Only after the last tree has been cut down ...the last river has been poisoned ...the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find "money cannot be eaten". [an Indian prophecy]
anyman, Jun 24 2008
  

       Just yesterday I found I couldn't nibble on my ha'penny.   

       Rather "donate" or "rebate" the planting of x trees, for each removed tree, at the government's expense where they are needed. A suitably organised government department could levy tree fella's for each tree they chop down. This cost passed on to the client. The revenue used to reforest. Big trees generally can't be moved cost effectively.
4whom, Jun 24 2008
  
      
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