Tree Talk, March 2003

In October President Museveni asked all schools to grow trees. Did your school start? Many did. With this Tree Talk, 15,000 schools will receive free seed for eucalyptus! Other readers are welcome to buy seed from the National Tree Seed Centre, PO Box 23889, Kampala: Tel: 286049

Be one of those schools. Use the eucalyptus seed we send you now to start your tree nursery.

arch No.1 M Vol. 2

The 20 g of eucalyptus seed we are sending you is enough to grow 27,000 seedlings!

2003

Eucalyptus: great tree for Uganda The best tree for a woodlot in every school Q Takes pressure off our natural forests Q Helps us to preserve our African trees Q

Eucalyptus is an Australian tree that grows very happily in Africa. Eucalyptus is not an indigenous tree. But used wisely, it can help us to preserve our African trees.

When we grow eucalyptus, we do not have to disturb our natural forests for wood. We do not have to cut down the big trees around our villages. Our forests and those big trees are precious. They give shade and medicine and are mother trees for seed. They attract rain and conserve soil. Eucalyptus is a tree that can solve community problems. Use your seeds to start growing eucalyptus today! "These are my seedlings," says Patience Katono, 8, P2, Fairway PS, Mbale. A eucalyptus woodlot at a school in Tororo gives shade to pupils and firewood for mid day meals.

Eucalyptus gives firewood and poles in just three years. By growing fast, it supplies our cooking and building needs.

Eucalyptus is a tree that can solve many school problems.

We are busy with trees! All over Uganda teachers, pupils and students are busy with trees: growing trees, planting trees, making tree nurseries, talking about trees! With the last two issues of Tree Talk, we sent you seed for musizi, lusambya, podo, mahogany, teak, tamarind and many other trees, depending on where you live. Did you grow your seeds? How big are your trees now? Higher than the roof of the school? Or did a cow eat them?! Send us photos and tell us what went wrong and what went right. We have 50 beautiful Tree Talk T-shirts to give away. Make sure your letter is a winner! rWite to

Headmaster of Buvulunguti PS, Kamuli, presents lusambya seeds from Tree Talk to Mr A Kawuzi, head of the environment department. Pupils prepare the seed bed.

Moses Gabula teaches about the importance of trees at Busalamu PS, Iganga. He is using Tree Talk as a teaching tool.

Tree Talk, P OB ox2 3 6 ,K ampala.

2 Tree

Talk, March 2003

By Sebastian Walaita, forester, Uganda National Tree Seed Centre

In Uganda we depend on natural forests for firewood, charcoal, construction and furniture. This puts tremendous pressure on those forests. We need to reduce this pressure by planting fast growing trees. Eucalyptus is a good tree. There are over 400 different types, a useful one for almost every environment.

This natural forest is being conserved.

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Eucalyptus: helpful tree This Tree Talk is distributing seed for two different types of eucalyptus: Q

Q

Eucalytpus grandis for the wetter areas Eucalyptus camaldulens for the drier areas.

The seed has been collected from the best eucalyptus trees in Uganda.

Growth rate Eucalyptus grows very fast. After three years, you get small poles and trees. After five, you can start cutting for firewood. After eight years, you can get timber. After 13 , you get electricity poles.

Uses Eucalyptus is a great firewood. Grown at school, it provides fuel for midday meals. Eucalyptus is a windbreak and gives shade where children can rest and play.

The forest is protecting the water catchment and supplying valued forest products such as wild fruits, medicine and vines. The people in this school do not need to damage the natural forest.

Eucalyptus is great for fencing and building roofs, huts, tables and chairs. Having a eucalyptus woodlot is essential for every school that needs to expand. Eucalyptus produces gum as well as tannin that can be used as a wood preservative. Bees make honey from its flowers. Eucalyptus makes beautiful avenues. Avenues are roads with trees on both sides. When schools plant eucalyptus, pupils learn how to grow it.

This eucalyptus woodlot is giving the school an income from poles, wood for cooking, and shelter from wind.

Eucalyptus sprouts after it is cut. This gives posts for fencing and branches for firewood.

Eucalyptus is a high-yielding fast grower. It has many purposes and helps us to protect our forests. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

It conserves soil and protects water catchments.

They can then teach their families. All homes need firewood and poles.

Money earner Your school can earn income from eucalyptus! After three years, you can sell a pole for 3000/=. After eight years, you can sell it for 8000/=. A eucalyptus big enough to be an electricity pole sells for over 15,000/=. One one hectare you can plant about 2500 trees. That is a lot of money!

Collect your own seeds to grow different trees. Choose the best mother tree.

But not for wetlands! Wetlands are the water granaries of Uganda. Never drain your local wetland by planting eucalyptus! Wetlands catch rain water and runoff from hills. They slowly release this water into our rivers and groundwater. Wetlands purify water. They produce valuable papyrus and swamp palms.

This replenishes our boreholes and springs

and allows our streams to flow for the whole year. Without wetlands, our land would become dry soon after the rains. Wetlands protect our water. We cannot live without water. Preserve your wetlands. Do not use eucalyptus to drain them!

Wetlands give us fish. We grow crops and graze our cattle in wetland fringes.

3

Tree Talk, March 2003

Wood the most important energy Earlier Tree Talks promoted trees that are Ugandan.

Trees provide over 90% of our energy and are our main source of energy for cooking and lighting. Even if all our hydro-electric potential were used, trees would still supply more than 75% of our energy in 2015! We are cutting more trees than we are growing. In 2000, the average household travelled ten times further to find firewood than it travelled in 1992.

This burden falls on women and children. It robs them of time they could spend on productive activities and books. Lack of trees makes us poorer.

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Only 1% of our rural people have electricity.

But this one promotes a tree that is foreign. Why? Some foreign trees grow very comfortably and yield highly in plantations. These include eucalyptus, pines and cypress. In contrast, most indigenous trees die once put in a plantation. They want to grow in a forest. Eucalyptus is self-pruning and grows very tall when closely spaced. This is not the case with most indigenous trees. There is no Ugandan tree that can be an electricity pole. Plantation-raised trees are very useful. In fact, Uganda cannot manage without them. Without plantations, we will lose our Ugandan trees to firewood, charcoal and timber. Without forests and our big freestanding trees, our country will become dry, dusty and infertile. That's a big reason to start planting!

remove the young seedling from the soil and put it into a plastic sheath. The soil for the transplant bed should be 50 to 60% forest top soil, 10% rough sand and 10% small stones.

Making the seedbed Eucalytus is very easy to germinate. You will have great success with these seeds. Take fertile soil from a grassland or forest or from under a tree. Mix it with rough sand.

Eucalyptus seed is very tiny. The seed needs loose soil to sprout and for the roots to grow. Mix the seeds with a handful of sand. Then spread the seed and sand mixture over 1sq metre of prepared soil. Cover the seed with a layer of sand until you cannot see it. Water very gently to avoid washing away the seed. Do not overwater. It attracts black ants that eat the seeds. It soaks the soil and can make the delicate shoots rot. Continue watering until the seeds germinate. It will take 4 to 15 days.

Transplanting As soon as two leaves have grown, gently

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Depending on the fertility, there should also be 10 to 20% manure that is old. Fresh dung burns the Pupils of Mporo PS prepare baby plant. Make the soil soil for their eucalyptus firm but not hard. Erect a seeds at Mwenge, Kyenjojo. shade to prevent strong direct sunlight. Keep the nursery clean. Do not waterlog it. Keep cutting the roots that out grow the pot or lift each sheath regularly so that the roots do not get stuck in the ground. If the roots start feeding from the soil below the sheaths, transplanting will be difficult. Make an enclosure to protect young plants

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Germinating and planting eucalyptus from children and cows. Keep reducing the shade and remove it after three weeks. This prepares the seedlings for the outside environment to where they will soon be transferred. During the dry season, water the plants in the morning and evening.

Planting the seedlings Eucalyptus seedlings should be planted in a hole 30 cm deep and as wide as a hoe. If the land is not very fertile, plant eucalyptus trees 1.8 metres apart. This enables the trees to compete and grow fast. If the soil is fertile, space the plants 2.4 metres apart. Put the topsoil back in the hole first and the sub-soil last. Step on the sides for it to be firm. Intercrop eucalyptus with beans or maize but not climbing beans and potatoes. Climbing beans and potato vines straggle and can suffocate the eucalyptus. Weed around the eucalyptus. After the first cutting and burning of the field, the eucalyptus leaves provide very good nutrients to the soil for the crops. Pupils of Mutukura PS, Ibanda, grow eucalyptus with beans and maize. Grow maize as a sacrifice plant in the first two years. Maizeis sweeter than eucalytpus. Termites prefer it.

4 Tree

Talk, March 2003 PO Box 7027 Silver Spring,MD 20907-7027 USA

Note to teachers

Trees for the Future is an NGO promoting leucaena, an agroforestry "miracle" tree.

There have been worries that eucalyptus damages soil and consumes a lot of water.

Left is a valley in Nepal. All the trees are gone. No!

But our species improve alkaline soil. They lower the pH and percentage of sodium and potassium. They increase the organic carbon.

Right is the same valley after planting leucaena! Yes!

Hot and + barren

Our species are highly efficient water users. In drought they stop growing but do not die.

Cool = and fertile

When there is water, the wood they produce per unit of water transpired is higher than for most other trees.

Q Q Q Q

“Trees are friends of man”. Members of the Straight Talk Club, Buwembe SS, Busia, preparing a nursery seed bed. They say: “This is for the musizi seeds which HE the President donated. On the left is A Mayende, our agriculture teacher. On the right is I Odulingo, our deputy headmaster. “ We encourage all students to make tree planting a priority. We have planted several beds of different tree seeds."

Dear Tree Talk, The first lot of trees you sent to us have done well, and we have managed to plant some in our compound. The second lot is already in the nursery. We expect to transplant them soon. We are with you for a greener Uganda. Wani Maju, Bugerere Sacred College, Kayunga

We pupils of Mukole PS are planting our trees with our teacher, Mr Mumbere Godfrey. We got our seeds from local trees. Well done. It’s great to collect your own seed! Choose the best mother trees. These are the seeds for Warburgia ugandensis, a very famous Ugandan tree. Called mukuzanume in Luganda, this tree provides many medicines. Can you find its seeds and grow it?

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Richard Eulu is our science teacher. He taught us on environment and decided to start agroforestry at school to: Be remembered in the future To provide shade for our PTA To safeguard our school buildings from wind To provide food for our school To prevent soil erosion. Pupils of Kiniaga CU PS, Nakasongola Q

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Letters from Tree Talkers

Write to Tree Talk PO Box 22366 Kampala

Pupils of Butobere PS, Kabale, admire their nursery bed of sesbania seedlings (munyeganyegye) sent by Tree Talk in March 2002.

Pupils of Walukuba PS and their teacher in charge of agriculture Openjtho Geofry plant mahogany seeds in their nursery bed at Biiso-Masindi.

Pupils of Bulighisa PS next to their seed bed. "We thank the National Tree Seed Centre."

TREE TALK is a joint venture programme of the organisations below. Funded by DFID and produced by Straight Talk Foundation: EDITOR: Catharine Watson WRITERS: Edith Kimuli, Sebastian Walaita, DESIGN: Micheal eB. Kalanzi, George B. Mukasa, D. Lutwama PHOTOGRAPHER: Hector Mutebi ILLUSTRATORS: Joseph Mugisha PRINTER: The New Vision Technical Reviewers:: Sebastian Walaita, Ambrose Kyaroki, Gaster Kiyingi Uganda Forest Sector Coordination Secretariat, Baumann Hse, Parliament Avenue, Kampala Tel: 340684/250311 Fax: 340683.

Uganda National Tree Seed Centre, PO Box 23889 Kampala Tel: 286049

Straight Talk Foundation, 45 Bukoto St. Kamwokya, PO Box 22366, Kampala Tel. 543025/542884