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On this page you will find answers to the most common questions. Is your question not listed here? Then please contact info@viteplusdarbres.fr
The climate and biodiversity crises need large-scale concerted action. We want to make the Earth greener and ensure that more CO₂ is absorbed. We also want to save trees from destruction and ensure more biodiversity in this way.
This campaign is organised by the Urgenda Foundation and co-initiated by Caring Farmers and Stichting MEERgroen.
Nature produces a glut of young trees and shrubs every year. Every Oak, Beech, Hawthorn, Willow, etc. produces thousands of seedlings every year. Much of this young growth can be harvested and given a chance to grow up elsewhere. Often seedlings are removed to create clearings, because there are too many of a particular species or to make room for ground plants. More Trees Now likes to do this differently. By working with volunteers who carefully handle, sort and store the plants, the seedlings get a chance to become a full-fledged tree or shrub elsewhere. In this way, we create free, mostly native and ecologically sound new nature.
Seedlings, shoots and advances /runners are saplings. To reproduce, a tree produces an abundance of seedlings. Most of these do not survive. For instance, they are in a place where they are unwanted, are out-competed or there are too many of one species in one place. They are often cut away, or uprooted and thrown into the shredder. We harvest these seedlings to plant them out somewhere where they are allowed to become full-fledged trees.
You can help by partaking in harvesting or organising the harvest days. You can sign up for this in the Treeplanner There you can see where and when there are activities in your area and sign up for them. As an organiser, you can plan these harvest days yourself and call on people to help out!
As a company, you can choose to run a sustainable team outing : a day of harvesting or planting with your team. You can also sponsor More Trees Now with your company or request trees to green your business park.
As a forester or site manager, you can help by registering the land you manage as a harvest site where we come to help harvest seedlings during the winter. More information for foresters and site managers.
Municipalities wishing to participate can send an email to info@viteplusdarbres.fr. We will then schedule an appointment to explain how you can participate as a municipality. Consider, for example, organizing a Tree Hub, arranging the green policy so that no more seedlings are lost by harvesting before mowing and when pruning, keeping the ‘cuttable’ species separate, planting trees, for volunteers to pick up. Many options!
Schools, scout groups and other associations can volunteer in the Treeplanner. If you would like to visit with a group or organize something yourself, please contact us at info@viteplusdarbres.fr. Then we will look together for a suitable harvesting or planting activity.
The Tree Planner is the digital environment for everyone who helps with More Trees Now. Each volunteer, harvest supervisor, Tree Hub and planting site has its own profile. With that profile you sign up for events such as harvest, distribution or planting days. You can also use your profile to create events: a Tree Hub can, for example, put a distribution day on the agenda.
Check the bar at the top of the site or go to the Tree Planner.
The Tree Planner shows all the activities in your area that you can participate in. For your convenience, we send you an overview of upcoming activities in your area every Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. CET (from late October to late March).
After registering in the Tree Planner, you can now start organizing harvest events yourself! Don’t know how (yet)? ask at info@viteplusdarbres.fr
The season starts in early November. In the Tree Planner you can see where harvest and distribution days are in your area. On the Plants page you can read more about plants, tree species and how the Tree Planner works.
The season starts in early November. The Tree Planner shows you where and when there are harvest and distribution days in your area. This could be right at a harvest day venue, or at a Tree Hub near you. Sign up for these events or use the chat function in the Tree Planner to coordinate with us if anything is unclear. So keep an eye on the Tree Planner starting in early November for your tree pickup!
There are many public distribution events where anyone can pick up free tree saplings without signing up in the Tree Planner. Check out the calender or the newsarticles. Also, you can help with harvesting and then take home some of the harvested trees or shrubs by mutual agreement. Of course, you can also create another planting location in the Tree Planner.
If you do not want to receive the weekly mail, go to your profile in the Tree Planner. There, click on ‘edit’ to the right of your profile and then uncheck that you receive the weekly emails.
At the bottom of each newsletter is the link (required by law) to unsubscribe.
Are there thousands of them? Then sign up as harvestlocation. Are there just a few? Then hand them in at one of the harvestdays
You can harvest in natural areas, gardens, city parks…. But! It is not allowed to do this just like that. For this you first need permission from the landowner. Harvesting in managed areas such as nature reserves, city parks and estates is allowed only with permission and under the supervision of a forester, ecologist or harvest supervisor. After all, they know which species and numbers are wanted at certain locations and which are not. On your own property, of course, you may harvest and cut to your heart’s content.
You are not allowed to harvest seedlings or cuttings just anywhere. This requires permission from the site manager. Can you track down the groundskeeper and maybe even enthuse them to participate? If so, that would be super! You can always mail the data of the groundsman to info@viteplusdarbres.fr. Are they convinced right away? Then these people can sign up as harvest sites through the website. More information about harvest.
We harvest everything, but we don’t hand out everything. We try to create a win-win for site managers by, for example, also pulling out the American Bird Cherry, an invasive exotic that most site managers would really like to get rid of. However, this one ends up on the compost pile. What we hand out is mostly native and always ecologically sound. Non-invasive non-native species can often still find a safe place in backyards and some food forests. We always recommend planting sites choose a diverse mix with early and late bloomers, fast and slow growers and fruit-bearing species such as Elderberry, Cherry, Hawthorn, etc. for maximum benefit to insects and birds.
In Willows and Poplars, the canes are called « slites ». Branches 1 to 3 meters long are inserted 40-60 cm deep into moist soil. Also read more about harvest or more about donating slites.
Harvested trees are brought to or picked up and taken to a Tree Hub: a temporary storage site from which they are distributed. Planting locations can also sign up to pick up the harvest directly. Anyone can sign up as a planting site. These are mostly food forests, farmers, private initiatives and groves, but also, for example, a tiny-house community or citizens picking up a tree for their backyard. We also sometimes plant roadsides with a municipality.
Ecologists are (rightly!) concerned that too few original native trees are being planted in the Netherlands. They estimate that only 2 to 3 percent of Dutch forests consist of native wild trees and shrubs. The rest are cultivated in the Netherlands or imported.
Let’s all protect these last bits of native greenery. Or rather, let’s protect all existing nature and all old trees. And let’s use these pieces of nature as starting material for new nature.
More Trees Now collects seedlings in places where they are shaded, too close together, too close to paths, at demolition sites and other places where they are undesirable. The seedlings then go in a diverse and native mix to farmers and citizens who plant them again.
What we collect is 90% native and comes from places where it is rampant. We don’t know if it’s all indigenous. We can’t determine that, because that would require genetic research and we don’t have time for that. We are in an ecological as well as a climate crisis. Every native healthy tree that has grown up in nature (and thus without poison or fertilizer) and that we can give a better chance elsewhere, offers added value. Added value for insects, soil, birds, planet and people. So we are working very hard!
10% of what we transplant is not native. This is not a bad thing, because food forests want to plant exotics, and exotics can do little harm in urban gardens as well. And even the best wood for the sustainable homes of the future often comes from exotics. We pull out invasive exotics when we do collect native species. That way we have a win-win.
Because the only thing worse than a cultivated hawthorn or birch is no hawthorn or birch just concrete. We keep talking to see what we can do even better together. What is paramount is that we need more forest and more nature!
NB: Native means that the genetic material of the tree originates in the country. Native means that the tree can thrive in our climate and grows here naturally. Native trees are always native, but native trees are not always autochthonous.
We have found that harvest days on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays have the most volunteers.
We also recommend sharing your harvest event on social media (especially LinkedIn) and inviting other green groups such as IVN, Nature Society, Nature & Environment Federations, local landscapers, Green Churches and other sustainable groups. You can share your event using the link in your event the Tree Planner:
Our Treefinder lists many non-native species. This while we state to transplant mostly native. This sometimes seems odd. This is because ‘mostly native’ means that the largest number of trees we transplant are native, but we include all possible species that are donated and saved in our list.
For example, if you transplant 8,000 (native) birches from the heath and 2,000 non-native shrubs in the city, but those shrubs are of 40 different species, you are transplanting 41 species of which 40 are non-native, but the trees you transplant are mostly native. In the Tree Finder you can see which species are most commonly harvested.
A Tree Hub is a place where harvested and sorted seedlings are stored and then distributed from there. Harvest supervisors bring the seedlings here, people with a planting location come here to pick them up. In your Tree Planner profile, as a Tree Hub, you indicate when pickups and deliveries can be made. How often your Tree Hub will be used, will depend on the amount of harvesting and planting locations in your area. Would you like to organize a Tree Hub? Sign up here or read more about Tree Hubs.
Great! Sign up as plant location and see which Tree Hubs have distribution days scheduled. Want to plant in public spaces? Be sure to coordinate with the landowner, such as the municipality. This is necessary to prevent the trees and shrubs from being removed and ending up in the chipper. Sin! Ideally, look for a spot where you are sure that the trees and bushes can grow old.
We remove seedlings from places where they are not wanted and give them a second chance in a desirable place. This method has been successfully used by the MEERGroen Foundation for over a decade. Research over the past season shows that we have an 80% success rate.
The exotics we are offered go to urban areas (for example, in backyards and parks). Here nature is cultivated. In woodland plantings, hedges, hedgerows, etc., only the native species appropriate to that specific landscape element will appear. Invasive exotics end up on the litter rack or compost pile.
We harvest everything, but we don’t hand out everything. We try to create a win-win for site managers by, for example, also pulling out the American Bird Cherry, an invasive exotic that most site managers would really like to get rid of. However, this one ends up on the compost pile. What we hand out is mostly native and always ecologically sound. Non-invasive non-native species can often still find a safe place in backyards and some food forests. We always recommend planting sites choose, a diverse mix with early and late bloomers, fast and slow growers and fruit-bearing species such as Elderberry, Cherry, Hawthorn, etc. for maximum benefit to insects and birds.,
We have two categories that we plant: seedlings with roots and cuttings/slips. The seedlings with roots should be planted so that all the roots are below ground but also not much deeper than that. The cuttings/slips should be put 1/3 into the ground.
The first two years it is important that the seedlings/ cuttings get enough water during the dry periods. This is because the first two years the root system still needs to develop properly.
This depends on the type of landscape element you are creating. In a wooded bank, for example, the seedlings are closer together than a forest. On average, for forest plantings, plant 1 tree per m² to 1 tree per 3 m² – depending on species and purpose. Read more information about planting.
Use the Treefinder to find the species that best suit your needs and environment. In the Tree Planner, you can see which species are available for pickup by harvest location and Tree Hub.
Yes, definitely. Check through the Treefinder to see which tree species are toxic to horses and indicate this when signing up. This way we will make sure no trees are picked up that are toxic to your horse.
No, because our trees do not come from a grower. However, we do know where the little trees come from, they are pesticide and fertilizer free and completely circular! Nature « grew » them for us for free. Some parties are required to use certified trees for a project. They then often order (tens of) thousands of certified trees at once. With us, the largest numbers of trees usually go to farmers and food forests. So we complement each other well!
