Request a Tree or Plant Your Own Tree

    Thanks to a partnership with the City of New Haven we are happy to plant street trees for New Haven residents with our GreenSkills crews.  Use the online form below to request trees.  The resident commitment entails watering the tree (or trees) planted and informing URI of any problems with the new tree. 

    Each tree needs 25 gallons of water per week during the growing seasons (from bud-break to leaf-drop) for the first three years.  For more information about watering, look here.  Go to the bottom of this page to learn about how to plant your own tree. 

    Need to request a street tree or stump removal?  URI does not remove trees or stumps or prune trees that we have not planted recently.  You may request that the City's Department of Parks, Recreation, and Trees help you with those tasks through SeeClickFix.

Plant Your Own Tree

Planting a tree is a process of enrichment. It is a process that can be strenuous or meditative, personal or collective. Outlined below are the first few steps to get you started.

1) Mark out with paint a circle or square that is twice the size of the root ball.

• Mark out a square if you’re planting on the curb strip and the width of the hole is less than 5 feet.
• Mark out a circle if the width of the hole is greater than 5 feet.

2) Place tarp next to area you have marked out.

3) If there is grass in the area you have marked, slice just under the roots of the grass with a flat spade and lift the layer of grass and roots into a pile at one edge of the tarp.

• If the hole is circular, save grass on site to be placed upside-down around edge of pit.
• If the hole is square, either find nearby locations that need extra grass.

4) Start digging from the center of the hole and work your way out.  Place dirt in a pile on the tarp.

• Hole must be twice as wide as the root ball so that new roots have good soil to grow into.
• Hole should be as deep as the distance between the bottom of the root ball to the root flare.  It is VERY important that the root flare be situated at the level of the soil and NOT buried underground.

Click here to learn the rest...

...and when you're done, step back to admire your newly planted tree!

Confused about root flares? Watch this video.