Tree Planting

1. Theme: Personal Development

Saplings are delicate and need lots of care and support in order to grow  into strong trees, e.g., fertile soil, water, sunshine.

•         What do you think are the nutrients that enable a youth to grow?

•         What are the possible obstacles that will hamper one’s potential?

•         How can you reach your fullest potential?

2. Theme: Paying Forward, “To serve, to strive and not to yield”

Singapore is famously known as the Garden City. Trees did not appear in Singapore by chance, introducing tress into our landscape was part of the Garden City vision which was introduced in 1967. Planting a sapling today is not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others in future, including people and animals.

a. How have you benefitted from your forefathers’ contributions?

b. When was the last time you did something purely for the benefit of others?

c. Why is it important to serve others?

3. Theme: Commitment

Your life journey is like a sapling that was just planted. It is young and delicate, with the potential to grow into a big and useful tree. It may also deteriorate under the weather and die. How this sapling may turn out depends on the resilience of the sapling from today onwards, to stand strong during the storms and grow in both good and rough times.

Create a visual impact either with a leaf, stick or rock for the following questions:

a. What is something you would like to leave (leaf) behind?

b. What is something you would like to stick (stick) with?

c. What is something that rocks (rock or stone) and you’re proud of (and you’d like to share with others)?

Text above taken from PD's Info Kit

1) The planting location: At specific open land sites around Ubin, NParks have isolated mixed soil piled in mounds and demarcated with sticks. Each mound is about 2-3m away from each other to allow the trees to grow without crowding and fighting for nutrients. We planted saplings at Sungei Teris, Sungei Assam and along the trail towards Kekek during 2022's MOC.

2) Equipment: Changkols and watering cans. OBS also provided gloves in the past for this activity.

3) Digging: Depth of the hole should be the same height as the root ball. Do note that the soil mound will eventually flatten, hence depth should be determined from ground level. Do ensure base of hole is flat as the use of changkols often results in a triangular hole to be dug, leading to slanted trees. It is also important to note that the use of changkols can be dangerous and participants should know how to safely wield the changkol.

4) Planting: Never lift saplings from the trunk as it might cause the root ball to detach due to the weight. Instead, put sapling on its side and roll the tree closer to the plant site by its root ball if it is too heavy. Remove the poly bag before planting the sapling. Pack the soil around the root ball and water with 2-4l of water.

Application

How else can we leverage on tree planting during our course to impart learnings to our pax? Here are some ideas that our group members have tried with their pax:

Fact vs Myths: An opportunity to share with pax on the 'One Million Trees Movement' and test your pax's knowledge and understanding about Singapore's efforts in maintaining Singapore's flora and fauna.

Giving Tree: Use this opportunity to tell the giving tree story and to get pax to reflect on who their giving trees are in life.

Wishing/ Commitment Tree: Use this opportunity to get pax to share on their aspirations and goals. Treat the tree like their goals and get them to reflect on the care needed to ensure these goals can blossom into reality like their sapling will grow into a sturdy tree.

Text above edited from Natasha Ning's workplace post 2022