PLANTING grown trees in newly constructed real estate projects has become a trend in big cities like Shanghai. Trees with thick trunks are transported hundreds of kilometres from the countryside of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other provinces.

People even import living trees from abroad. The Canary Island date palm is very popular in Shanghai, with each grown tree selling at over 300,000 yuan (US$36,276). Although this palm plant from Africa need lots of attention and has difficulty adjusting to the natural environment in Shanghai, it sells very well.

"Just see how many of these trees my community can plant!" said one real estate tycoon. A gardening company has sold 300 of the date palms this year.

"People want novel ideas in gardening. There are trends and fashions in this industry as well," said Peter Lu, a gardening engineer. "Developers want to defeat their competitors by importing rare and expensive plants. This is purely a business practice where the government has little influence."

The pursuit of fashion makes people introduce plants that don't fit very well with the climate and soil of Shanghai.

Yet 90 per cent of moved grown trees can survive in the new environment if the moving procedures are carefully carried out. Among the survivors, are immigrant trees but they don't grow as well as they do at home.

Usually, moving grown trees should be done before early April. After this time the survival rate drops considerably. But it still happens that real estate projects are completed in the early autumn and developers demand that all trees should be in place by that time, Lu said.

Risky removal

In such cases, the gardening company undertaking the project informs the estate developer about the risks and charges a much higher price for each moved tree.

"If he asks 10 times the common price for a tree, he can still make the same profit even if nine trees die out of every 10," Lu said.

Experts have been speaking against the importing of grown trees for some time, blaming the practice for the exploitation rural natural resources. Xu Hongli from the Environmental Protection Bureau of Guizhou Province, speaking at a political consultative conference, said that moving grown trees had caused environmental problems and should be stopped.

Moved trees come from different places. "Some belong to private owners, growing in the backyard of some farmer's house," Lu said. "The farmer may sell it if he thinks the price is OK. No one else cares." But the payment the farmer receives may only be one fifth of the final price of the tree when it is sold to the city.

Many trees are dug out of forests, which can cause serious problems. "A tree doesn't grow there alone," Lu explained, describing the ecological effects of tree removal. "Underneath a big tree are various other plants, shrubs, liane, and so on, forming an interacting ecological structure."

When the big tree is moved, the lower plants may not be able to survive the suddenly sharpened sunshine and gradually die out. When many trees are moved out of a certain area, the whole forest can be destroyed.

Quick money

Farmers in the countryside, seeing the quick money to be made from trees, dig them out even before buyers come. They don't grasp the technique required to protect the dug-up trees and handle them carelessly. Some die and wither by the roadside in the suburbs of Guiyang, Guiding, and Majiang, in Guizhou Province.

Among the victims was found a precious species from the province, over 200 years old, with a trunk wider than 1.2 metre, despite the national regulation against damaging any tree older than 100 years.

"The phenomenon of big trees being moved to the city is even worse than the deforestation years ago," said one farmer.

Lu said that some areas in Zhejiang had imposed local regulations against trading in old trees. This, together with the fact that not many old trees are left to be dug out in the countryside may have led to the rise of tree prices in big cities.

Big trees do have a very good effect in improving the natural environment, Lu said. But it is far from the only solution. "Five saplings can achieve the same effect as one big tree," he said.

Moving a grown tree involves considerable technical difficulties. Trees need to be prepared for the move months before it is done. "You cut off the roots and crown off the tree, to slow down the metabolism," Lu said. Then you leave the tree at the original site for months. In the early spring of the following year, the tree is dug out together with a ball of earth protecting the roots, which should be eight to 10 times the width of the trunk.

Then the tree is placed horizontally on a truck and transported to the city. "You need to spray water on the branches and leaves on the way," Lu said.

Trees with the crown cut-off for moving have been given the nickname "chop-head trees". Experts have criticized this practice and said the "chop-head trees" looked ugly and had little effect in beautifying the environment.

Green blueprint

Mingyuan Group, an estate company, is undertaking a project on Gonghexin Lu, where a paper factory was located. The factory had been known for its beautiful trees and gardens but had now moved out to a remote suburb.

Mingyuan found that in order to build apartments, they had to move at least some of the 2,900 trees, which were nearly 50 years old.

"We tried to protect the old trees as much as possible," said Meng Xiangzhong, an engineer with the Mingyuan Group. The previous factory used to boast a road lined with camphor trees, whose crowns shaded the whole road. Mingyuan undertook the construction blueprint, leaving the road and trees in the original place.

"Newly moved trees can't be compared with those which have grown up here," Meng said.

Some 60 old trees have to be moved during the first stage of the Mingyuan project. The company invited gardening companies to undertake this project, trying to achieve the highest possible survival rate. US experts were invited to contribute ideas.

Although their practice differs considerably from that in China, and the species are different, local gardening engineers still found their opinion enlightening. For example, trees remain in the upright state during the whole moving procedure, which substantially decreases the damaging effects of transportation.

"It costs US$10,000 to move an old tree in America, but it is impossible for China to afford such high costs," Meng said.

In order to achieve the best effect, Mingyuan hopes to keep the complete crown of the trees being moved. A gardening engineer argued with this practice, saying that it would seriously increases the risk of the tree dying. A practical and efficient plan is still in the making.