Citywide is responsible for maintaining in excess of 1.5 million trees along Australia’s eastern seaboard, and is responsible for planting in excess of 20,000 trees per year for various local government authorities.
As caretaker to some of Australia’s most iconic open spaces Citywide are always looking for innovative and ecologically sustainable ways to maintain the health of trees, and minimise the impact on the environment.
Five years ago Citywide’s senior arborists were searching for an efficient method to water and sustain newly planted trees. After trialling a number of technologies, they were found to be unsuccessful due to their inability to conserve water, inadequately assisted water to penetrate to the tree roots, and in some cases lead to greater water consumption and wastage.
It was then Citywide discovered Australian product Greenwell. The innovative product made from recycled UV plastic concentrates up to 26 litres (regular size) and 50 litres (large size) of water around a plant base ensuring all the water applied is made available to the tree roots.
Greenwell ensures newly planted trees receive appropriate amounts of water to the root ball, allowing a considerable reduction in the amount of water used to maintain the trees. The Greenwell product has not only been identified by Citywide as a leading tree watering innovation, but also by the water industry. Greenwell was a finalist in the 2010 National Savewater Awards, and accredited by Smart WaterMark, an independent agency to identify and promote water saving products and services in Australia.
Citywide has had the responsibility of planting advanced trees across the Brimbank City Council since 2009. In this time in ddition to substantial water savings Citywide has successfully planted over 13,000 new trees at an establishment rate of greater than 97%, with the assistance of Greenwell.
Hi Brian,
My name is Kathy from Gunyah Animal Sanctuary at Yarck, Victoria. I spoke to you on the phone some weeks ago re: your wonderful product and you kindly directed me to ArborGreen so I could order 30.
I have finally got them all in and mulched, and they are already making such a huge difference! The amount of time and water I am saving is priceless, so thank you so very much for this wonderful product. I will definitely be ordering more as funding permits.
All the very best wishes to yourself and Mrs Measday for a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Warmest regards,
Kathy
Gunyah Animal Healing Sanctuary
Thank you so much for all of your work on the Greenwell Water Saver products, we sell both sizes on all three garden websites Jackson & Perkins, Wayside Gardens, and Park Seed in the United States and they are both among our top selling items. We have success selling them as stand alone products and using their popularity to sell other garden related products. I wish every product was as simple to understand and profitable to merchandise.
Thank you again!
Wes Harvell
Jackson & Perkins Garden Manager
J&P Park Acquisitions, Inc.
3507 Cokesbury Rd.
Hodges, SC 29654
P: 1-864-941-4528
Fax: 1-864-941-4502
Wes Harvell – Jackson & Perkins Garden Manager
As a part of our grant program, we used the GreenWells to help establish young, 1-5 gallon trees. The Greenwells helped protect the young trees from weeds and grass, allowing water to penetrate the roots. The GreenWells have also prevented things like lawnmowers, weedwhackers, and pets from harming the trees. GreenWells provide a controlled environment that keeps water and mulch in. We like what we are seeing so far!
David Pineda, Program Manager, WCA, Inc. CIRCLE 3.0 Project with the California Urban Forests Council
David Pineda, Program Manager, WCA, Inc
I recently had the opportunity to relocated 6 fruit trees from a building site in Adelaide (where they were going to be “bulldozed”) to our property on the Fleurieu Penninsula. Little did I know that while I relocated them in late winter they were about to face the driest Spring and Summer in decades. I surrounded each tree with a Greenwell tree guard and I am sure they have been instrumental in helping all 6 trees survive at their new home. We have only rainwater tanks for water supply so have to be frugal with our water. The guards allow the heavy mulch to be contained and makes watering easier and more efficient – the water is contained and directed to the root zone. What a great invention!!
Glenn Young
Hi Brian
It was nice to talk to you about the Greenwells.
Tamworth Regional Council have been using the Greenwells for about 4 years now. They provide an easy way of watering trees to give them a deep watering without wasting water. We have used both sizes depending on the size of the tree we have planted. We intend to keep using the Greenwells to assist the establishment of street trees and other feature trees within our parks network.
Regards
Hugh Leckie
Horticulture and Arboriculture Specialist
Tamworth Regional Council
Tamworth Regional Council have been using the Greenwells for about 4 years now
A durable and versatile product!
I have GreenWell Water Savers around my young fruit trees. I mulched around the trees to keep weeds down as I normally would do, only this time I mulched the area within the ring. Usually I replace the mulch mid-season, but with the GreenWell ring holding it in place, the mulch lasted longer and I didn’t have to. When I watered my trees, it trickled right to the root zone – as expected. The rings are sturdy even against the occasional bump of lawn equipment. As a bonus, in the wintertime and into early spring, the rings kept the winter mulch in place for insulation and protection during freezing temperatures. Seasons of usefulness! Everyone benefits from an easy-to-use product that really works. Highly recommended.
Sarah D. (gardener in Louisiana, Missouri, USA)
Sarah D (gardener in Louisiana, Missouri, USA)
we love our Greenwells, and have ; relied on Greenwells for, I believe, the whole of the approximately 17 years we’ve lived in our current home, and consider use of a Greenwell to be an indispensable part of establishing any new plant in our front and rear gardens, whether it be roses or shrubs or a young tree … so – good on you! for inventing them ?, and thank you!
John Ward
Hi Brian
Just thought a quick e-mail to you, just letting you know that I am very impressed with your tree rings. I did speak to you several months ago, at Bunnings Noarlunga, since then I have instated several on my slopping block. Every claim that you made stands up, and have just noticed the new irrigation clips, a great improvement.
Thanks for keeping it local, you deserve a medal for that.
Kind Regards,
Dave Williams
Dave Williams
Hi Brian,
I can’t say enough about your Greenwell product! I have been searching for a product like this for some time. It is durable and so easy to install. It holds the water with no run off, which allows it to seep deep down into the roots. It is so easy to open and close, this is an amazing product! Thank you for inventing and producing it.
Rhomaine McDonald
North Reading, Massachusetts USA
Rhomaine – North Reading, Massachusetts
As the City Arborist for Frankston City, a Municipality covering an area of 130 square kilometres on Port Phillip Bay, 30 kilometres from Melbourne, I am very much aware of the importance that Arborists place on the proper watering of newly planted young trees and also how important it is to save as much water as possible during the watering operation. For over 30 years I have been planting street trees into suburban roads for local municipalities.
When the inventor of the Greenwell product asked me to provide this endorsement concerning his product, I said I would be pleased to be able to share with fellow Arborists my long standing, hands on experience and resulting knowledge concerning the Greenwell product. We have used the Greenwell product in the Frankston Municipality for approximately fifteen years to water, and significantly improve survival numbers of newly planted young trees. In our Municipality we plant approximately three to four thousand trees each year. For our Municipality the Greenwell product has been an outstanding success.
A major benefit of the Greenwell product is that it allows for a greatly improved watering regime during the establishment period of newly planted trees. The product has been very well received by our various contractors responsible for planting trees in a variety of urban situations. Because the Greenwell product greatly reduces the run off of water during the watering operation and, in fact, delivers the water quickly and direct to the tree root ball, it therefore saves water and watering time. Greenwell has been a finalist in a major Award in Australia for saving water
Other associated benefits resulting from using Greenwell’s in our Municipality, that we have found to be of significant importance, are:
- Greenwell avoids the need of whipper snippers to manage grass close to planted trees and so saves the subsequent damage that these devices will do to new trees.
- The $ cost savings by improving the efficiency of tree water delivery allows my contractor to complete a maintenance run assured that all water provided will stay within the well and quickly reach the tree root system. While the internal mulch layer is kept neat and within the Greenwell walls this also means we don’t need to add soil wetting agents to assist water penetration in hydrophobic soils.
- The recyclable quality of Greenwell’s (Greenwell’s patented zip join allows for easy installation and reuse) means that once trees are established we can remove & reuse the Wells again & again as they can withstand repeated use. The resulting $ cost advantages are obvious.
- The sides of the Greenwell Product slope outward therefore when installed in the ground the pressure of the soil on the sloping sides makes it very difficult for vandals to pull them out of the ground. They are easy to remove from the ground with a shovel or similar device but vandals do not ,in the normal course of events, carry such devices
I trust that the following photographs will better enable Arborists to understand the function and multipurpose functions of the Greenwell product.
Derek Lynn Senior
Arborist Frankston City Council OSS
Civic Centre, 30 Davey Street
FRANKSTON VIC 3199 AUSTRALIA
Ph: (03) 9768 1558 Mob: 0417 315 249
Dip of Sci Arboriculture. ISA Cert Arb AU-0297A
www.frankston.vic.gov.au
An opened product that is being displayed by the Australian inventor of the product
A product that has been installed in the ground
A street tree being watered with a Council water truck in Australia—note the product installed
around the tree base for the purpose of delivering all the water applied direct into the tree root
zone.
Recently planted trees, with Greenwell’s installed, in the Frankston City Municipality Area.
