• The tree planting team from Aachen's municipal services has started the tree planting season.
• 40 different tree species will be planted in the coming months.
• A wide variety of factors must be taken into account when selecting the respective trees.

More than one hundred trees are lying on the loading areas of the trucks: the tree maintenance staff at Aachener Stadtbetrieb are sorting them by species and variety before the trees are put together for the respective locations and successively placed in the ground. The new tree planting season at Aachener Stadtbetrieb began at the start of October. More than 450 trees will be planted in the city area by February. 40 tree species, including English oaks, tulip trees, hop hornbeams, robinia, ornamental cherries and ornamental pears, will be planted in tree grates in streets, city parks and city playgrounds.

50 new trees in Aachen-Brand

Right at the start, the teams are out and about in Aachen-Brand. A total of 50 new trees will be planted in Röhrigstraße and Kirchheidstraße alone. "Over the past ten years, trees that were no longer safe for traffic due to fungal infestation and collision damage had to be removed," explains Michael Speck, tree planting team leader at Aachener Stadtbetrieb. The soil at the tree locations in Röhrigstraße is heavily compacted due to parked vehicles. The new 20 apple trees are therefore being planted in a special tree substrate which, among other things, helps the trees to grow safely. The teams are working hand in hand. The sites were prepared for planting between April and September. This included a deep excavation of the old soil in order to fill the entire site with new substrate and thus create optimal conditions for future tree growth. "We also installed round palisades made from recycled plastic to protect the trees and prevent unnecessary soil pressure," explains Michael Speck. "This gives the trees a better chance of establishing themselves at this location." For the 19 tree locations in Kirchheidstraße, the experts from the municipal company selected columnar rock pears, as this type of tree has already proven itself in the street.

The ash tree that the city's tree maintenance team had to cut down at short notice on Christmas Eve 2023 in Eschenallee in Brand because it had tipped over after a storm and posed an acute danger is currently being replaced by a plane tree.

Consider individual factors

The new plantings are spread across the entire city area, including Hansmannstrasse, Nirmer Strasse, Josefstrasse, Kalkbergstrasse, Schleidener Strasse, Prämienstrasse, Laurensberger Strasse and Vetschauer Weg. There are many factors that need to be taken into account when choosing the type of tree for street trees: "These include, for example, the surroundings and soil conditions, the distance from the buildings, the size of the tree disc and the guarantee of a second escape route," Michael Speck lists. Climatic influences such as heat and drought also play a role.

As these parameters are individual for each site, each new tree location is checked separately in advance. Archaeological site supervision is also always included.

The city's tree maintenance team checks and cares for around 120,000 trees in the city of Aachen. It is noticeable that around one percent of these trees die every year due to disease, age and external weather influences such as storms and snow breakage. To counteract this figure, the new tree planting team was established. The employees now plant 450 new trees every year - with an upward trend where possible.