Residents and visitors to the borough can now get more acquainted with Bromley’s recently planted trees, with the new GT Watering QR codes and app.
Introduced in the recent planting and watering season of 2022/23, Bromley Council’s tree watering and maintenance contractor, Gristwood and Toms, have installed QR code cards on each newly planted Treemendous tree in the borough. These QR codes, unique to each tree, allow information about each tree to be regularly updated, particularly during the watering season, giving details as to when they have been watered and what maintenance has been carried out.
Councillor Will Rowlands, Executive Councillor for Environment, says “It is really important we are able to monitor progress being made to maintain our trees. These QR codes will make it easier for our contractors, Tree Friends, and residents to help keep the borough’s trees in good condition. During the warmer months of the year particularly, the trees need plenty of water, which is part of our programme and the QR codes help to manage this process. A big thank you to our Tree Friends and residents that have helped us by watering their local street tree in the summer. We look forward to seeing more Treemendous trees being planted in the borough this year.”
Since summer 2023, residents have been able to download the GT Watering app on IOS (Android coming soon) to scan and include details of their own watering to help support the regular 50 litres (11 gallons) of watering being carried out by the council during watering seasons. The app also allows residents to report issues with certain trees, which are logged with Gristwood and Toms directly for their attention. Should residents not have access to the app, they are also able to scan the QR using the camera on their device, with which they can view the tree details and the watering schedule via a web link. Whilst this webpage does not offer full functionality, it does allow residents and Tree Friends to view some information about that tree.
In the last planting season, Bromley Council planted 1590 Treemendous trees in the borough, of which 1250 were brand new trees, with the additional 340 replacing felled or failed trees. To date, more than 3000 street trees have been planted of the targeted 5000 over the 4 year period since 2021. This number does not include tree planting for replacing damaged or dead trees or those trees which needed to be felled because of disease or for safety reasons, which is in addition to the numbers stated above.
Residents can also support their local trees by becoming a Tree Friend. The council’s Tree Friends help to water trees in the summer, removing damaged branches, and reporting issues with trees. To become a Tree Friend, residents can sign up at bromley.gov.uk/TreeFriends, where they can also report issues with trees and find out more about how to water them.
Residents are also being invited to suggest where new trees could be planted. In the 2022 planting season, over 230 of the 1250 new trees planted in the borough were sourced directly from resident requests. Visit www.bromley.gov.uk/trees for more information.
Ends
For media enquiries, please contact Justin Brown, Public Affairs Officer, on 020 8461 7872 or email justin.brown@bromley.gov.uk.