South West tree giveaway

Thorny hedgerow pack

This pack is suitable for gapping up or extending existing hedgerows. Hedgerows are home to a wide variety of wildlife and provide connectivity between larger habitats. Hawthorn flowers early in the year, providing a vital food source for early pollinators. Many birds such as robins and song thrushes also feed on the berries over the winter months. Hedgerow plants also support natural predators for common crop pests, such as aphids.

Hedgerow for browsing

This pack is suitable for gapping up or enhancing existing hedgerows. Hedgerow shrubs and trees offer many welfare benefits to livestock, often containing minerals and nutrients in higher concentrations than grass. For example, willow contains salicylic acid which has anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. Cows and sheep can also browse on the leaves and small twigs, offering a supplementary food source in the dry summer months when grass growth can be limited.

Copse pack

This pack is suitable for planting across the farm, among existing woodlands or to create new wildlife areas. Our wildlife pack contains four tree species that offer a year-round supply of food and forage for birds, insects and mammals. Trees play a vital role in a thriving ecosystem; for example, acorns from oak trees support voles, which in turn support barn owls and other birds of prey.

Wet field-corner pack

This pack is suitable for unproductive damp field corners and exposed areas. Offering a haven for many birds, insects and plants, water-tolerant trees can also provide benefits to the farming system. These include offering shade and shelter for livestock as well as improving water infiltration, acting to mitigate both flooding and soil erosion.

All our tree packs come with free tree protection. We strongly recommend 1.2m tree tubes if there is a risk to your trees from deer and other browsing herbivores. Tree tubes will need to be removed and reused or recycled after five to seven years.

• 1.2m tubes and stakes – browsing from deer likely.
• 60cm tubes and bamboo canes – minimal browsing from deer but small mammal protection needed.
• No tree protection – no risk of browsing, or if you already have tree stakes and guards, or are planning to plant your tree packs in a fenced area.

Plastic is a problem. It doesn’t biodegrade and it's not environmentally friendly. Yet it's often turned to for its longevity and effectiveness when it comes to protecting young trees from damage, and plastic tree guards have now become the norm.

There are now a range of plastic-free alternatives to tree guards on the market, and we are working towards using these in our offers. However, they can be costly, and we want to make sure they are as effective as possible before offering them.

We currently offer plastic protection so we would always suggest you either re-use or recycle once you remove the guards from your trees (after five to seven years).

You can drop off used PE tree guards at TUBEX hubs, where they are recycled for free. Alternatively, TUBEX offer doorstep collections for a price. For more information on this scheme, visit the TUBEX website.

If you need to cancel your order, please email treegiveaway@woodlandtrust.org.uk with your order details, the email address associated with your order and the collection event you selected.

We can’t amend any details once an application has been submitted. If you want to alter your choice of tree pack, collection date or venue, you will need to cancel your order and submit a new application. 

You can order up to two tree packs per land holding.

The trees are provided as small ‘whips’ so you will not require a trailer to collect your trees. If you have requested tree protection, the tubes and stakes are approximately 1.3m long so you may need a big car, van or trailer to transport them.

We are unable to offer delivery, but you are welcome to see if a friend or neighbour is able to collect the tree packs on your behalf instead. You will need to give them your order reference number to show to staff at the event. If you are unable to organise this, please email us at treegiveaway@woodlandtrust.org.uk to cancel the order.

Your trees are only available for collection on the specified day and time, and we are unable to keep them for collection at a later date.

You can, but make sure you have their order reference number too so we can identify their packs.

All uncollected trees will be allocated to an alternative Woodland Trust project as unfortunately we do not have the resources to arrange alternative pickups for applicants. Please rest assured the trees have not been wasted.

Please refer to your most recent email – this should contain the address as well as a what.three.words code and Google maps link. If you are unable to find this email, please call our support team on 0330 333 3300.

We have tried to get a fair spread of collection events across the south west, but we are limited in what we can provide. We have had to limit each event to a certain number of collections to ensure it is manageable on the day for our team. As a result, it may be that your local collection event is fully booked.

We would ask that you do not travel further for your trees where possible to limit the impact on the environment. We are hoping to run a similar event next year, so look out for more details then. In the meantime, if you would like to plant trees with us, please take a look at our funding and schemes for farmers and landowners.