Tree bags

The city’s newly planted trees will be sporting a new look this summer.

Moe than 400 trees will be outfitted with tree watering bags through a grant from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, who have partnered with Tree Canada.

The $15,000 grant will be matched by the City of Thunder Bay’s parks division and that money will be used to pay for the tree watering bag, their installation and filling of the bags from July to October.

City urban forest program specialist Rena Viehbeck said the tree watering bags will efficiently deliver water to the trees’ root systems to help them grow.

“Soil moisture around the roots is the most important factor for establishing a tree and simply watering a tree with a hose on quick flow often results in water running off or evapourating,” she said.

“This efficiently delivers water to the roots over six to nine hours,” she said.

While the grant pays for most of the bags being filled on a weekly basis, about 50 local citizens have volunteered to fill the bags on trees on their streets.

It only costs 18 cents each week to fill one of the watering bags with 76 litres of water.

“That’s considering an average household use of 200 cubic metres a year,” said Viehbeck.

People can also purchase bags for trees they have planted in the last year at local nurseries or online.