BIG TREE, BIG TRUCK, BIG HOLE
21 May 2014
When the budget for five holes and five plants is $35,000, you’d be making sure those plants live long, luscious and thriving lives. Here’s how TerraCottem was involved.
Imagine a project with just five holes and five plants to go into them. Then imagine that those five plants cost around $35,000. If you were responsible for a project like this you'd probably be very focused on taking every step to help each of those plants live long, luscious and thriving lives.
The Cairns CBD is currently in the throes of a top-shelf horticultural makeover and Brenton Hull, Horticulturalist with the Cairns Regional Council, is responsible. (click here for the full version)
"It's more than just aesthetics, of creating a vibrant tropical hub to the city. There's a practical aspect to the plan as well. These significant trees and plantings will offer more shade which in turn helps to cool the streets and the shop fronts," said Brenton.
The how-to has been a little interesting given these trees are seriously whopping in scale and they've needed settling-in during the Cairns dry season.
At five metres and field grown in root-supporting cages, each tree is treated to a series of steps involving tree spades, root stimulating hormones, attentive irrigation and some serious root ball and canopy gift wrapping before they’re loaded onto a pan-tec and driven north for two days with the driver in constant contact with Brenton's team in Cairns - who meanwhile have been feverishly preparing the site in readiness.
"We dig five by five metre holes to a depth of 1.5 depending on any services beneath, then set out the irrigation conduit for the pop ups before backfilling with my special mix which includes TerraCottem. Before the truck arrives, we've been given the root ball size so we'll have a fresh hole ready."
The planting was textbook, as was the follow-up care, and Brenton’s happy with the results. "They've exceeded my expectations. They went in at 5.5 metres and they are now seven metres high only 14 months later."
Images: When something is this big so is the cost and the risk. The size of this tree and truck put pressure on the Cairns team to ensure the project was a success - now and into the far future.
TerraCottem & the TC AdvantageTC Advantage is a package deal. It's about supplying TerraCottem, along with all the training, technical specification and compliance needed to turn a tricky project into a genuine long-term success. So when anyone has a turf, street tree, revegetation or whatever project to tackle, bringing in the TC Advantage expertise means you get: advice on which TerraCottem product to specify; training so that it's applied for maximum benefit; and monitoring to ensure compliance within the project's specs.
