Have trees, will travel

It might look like a nasty contraption but this giant hydraulic tree spade will be treating Christchurch trees like babies as it shifts them around the city this month.

The spade, capable of gently uprooting trees up to eight metres tall, has been brought to Christchurch from Auckland by the Christchurch City Council for a series of plantings around Arbor Day on 5 June.

“We will use the tree spade to shift semi mature trees from various public parks and spaces to sites where they can make a better contribution to their surroundings,” Council arborist Dieter Steinegg says. Among the trees that are to be shifted are specimens from Harwood Nursery that will be given a new home in Jellie Park and several trees that will be transplanted in Hagley Park.

Previously, the tree spade has shifted trees from sites such as Peter Scoular Park (opposite Civic Offices) to Oxford Tce and the Council nursery to the riverbank on Cambridge Tce.

“The trees have often come from groves, where we have planted specimens too closely together to encourage them to grow tall.

Some of these trees eventually have to be cut down or transplanted,” Mr Steinegg says. “Having a ready stock of semi mature trees is fantastic as it means that we can remove aged or diseased trees and replace them with substantial specimens. It’s all part of the ongoing tree replacement and management programme for the city.”