NEW DELHI: Want to know which is the best tree for you to plant in your region? Just download the ‘Plantation Made Easy’ application developed by a young Indian Forest Service Officer S Sudha on your smart phone and see which species is most suitable for your area.
The mobile app is a comprehensive one stop shop for knowing the best species of tree suitable for a particular kind of climate or soil and the best post plantation care techniques.
Be it farmers, home gardeners, industries or individuals, anyone can find out the right kind of tree as per their requirement. The two main objectives of this application are to guide people about the plantation technique and post plantation care.
The app, which is already available on android platform, also widens the choice of tree species as selection of right tree species is very important. The factors that are to be considered for the right selection are soil type, climate, rainfall, terrain and tree type.
After downloading the app, a user can choose most suitable tree either by species, tree type or location. Choose by Location is, however, only available to districts of Tamil Nadu at present, but would soon be extended to other States as well.
“The app will consider all these factors and help someone like a farmer to select the most suitable tree species which will meet all such conditions. This will ensure the healthy growth of the tree species and protect the farmer from incurring heavy losses,” said a senior official of the Environment Ministry’s forest division.
Besides guiding users about plantation, the app also guides people throughout its plantation process by helping in choosing parameters like correct planting material, selection of right time and place for planting, preparing a pit of right size for the planting material, choosing adequate spacing for plantation, immediate care soon after planting, post-plantation care like weeding, cleaning, pruning, and thinning, that are crucial to improve the quality and the health of the trees. “The app provides all these information in a handy manner to the users. Choose by tree species directly takes the user to the list of 43 tree species. The user can click on the tree they desire, to know about the details on plantation technique,” the official added.
Choose by Tree Type has eight different tree types - Timber Trees, Pulpwood Trees, Matchwood Trees, Fire wood, Fuel wood and Fodder Trees, Other Beneficial Trees (NTFP), Bio fuel Species, Pencil wood / Plywood Trees, Industrial / Institutional Plantation Trees.