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[NSW] Free Tree up to $40 for Sydney Metro Region Residents

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As a part of the Greening our City Premier's Priority, you can now apply for free tree(s) via the NSW Planning Portal. The Premier’s Priority is to plant one million trees in Greater Sydney by 2022.

Planting one million trees will provide more shade, cleaner air and more beautiful places to live.

To reach the one million trees target we need individuals like you to play a part and plant trees in your own backyard. The Free Tree Giveaway makes trees from Bunnings available to the first 8,750 households in Greater Sydney to apply.

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  • +3

    What trees are available?

  • +1

    Shame they don’t offer the same trees you can get in Canberra…

    • +1

      What trees can you get in Canberra?
      Edit. Oh. Right. Took me a minute

  • +7

    Thanks Op! Applied for one.
    The list of trees may vary by council. There are options of 1 fruit bearing or 3 small flowering. The options were mainly native. In the fruit bearing there was lemon and kumquat. I already have a lemon so I went for the kumquat. The 3 small trees were mainly Lilly pilly and a few others.

    • I can’t see any fruit plant eg kumquat? Which area are you in?

      • I dont any info on the webage when i login using myservices account.
        It says no pages, page doesnt exist. I guess it doesnt work on mobile devices.

        • +1

          Once logged in to the planning website, click on the 3 lines on the top left corner. On the drop down menu, click + to access the tree application.

      • Blacktown

    • Thanks. Made it easier to select the fruit tree.

    • Like you I had a Meyer lemon already, so applied for kumquat too.

    • Both my councils dont have any fruit trees either i think, unless they are types of fruits i havent heard about before.

    • No fruit trees in North Sydney area either.

      • No fruit trees in my area either!

  • +7

    I called up my local council asking about what tree to put on my nature strip and they kindly came and planted one for free. Try your council if you have a bare nature strip.

    • +8

      "if you have a bare nature strip" - some people prefer Brazilian over "native" (thanks for the suggestion though)

    • +12

      Good work.

      The disregard for tree planning in Sydney, and all of Australia as far as I can see, is appalling. Our suburbs and towns could be so much nicer and healthier with a bit of a tree plan.

      • +2

        You are not wrong. The dozen of trees my council had removed from my street many years ago still haven't been replaced yet. It doesn't seem like they will be replaced.

      • +2

        Agreed. It's only an emerging thing in planning but many councils are looking at developing urban forest strategies and adopting "Cool Streets" programs to tackle urban heat island effect.

  • How big is the tree?

    • +1

      The selection of trees are either 200mm or 300mm.

      • +4

        To be clear, that's the size when you get it from Bunnings. Depending on the kind of tree, it could grow much larger.

      • I picked up some 200mm trees when Northern Beaches council were giving them away for free in Manly last year. I currently have two 800+mm trees in one year. Love the native, fast growing mofos!

  • thanks! :)

  • How big is the tree to collect? Can I collect it in a toyota camry sedan? Or is it quite grown and requires a ute or something?

    • +1

      200or 300 mm.

      She’ll be alright.

      • +2

        Remember that's the pot size not the height of the plant.

        • Where did you get that information from? FAQ says 200mm or 300mm tree, not a tree that is suitable for a pot of that size?

          • +3

            @a-jr: It's on the bunnings website. It's the diameter of the pot.

            • @skid: Thanks for the tip!

          • @a-jr: Just from experience buying plants and tree's. The measurements are always the size of the pot in litres or the diameter of the pot. These are from Bunnings so I can guarantee the 200mm and 300mm measurements are the diameter of the pot. That's a good thing though as your plant will most likely be taller than 300mm.

            Hope that helps.

  • I can't see any fruit bearing trees either. It doesn't mandate my address before tree selection so I don't think they have an allocation limit by area.

  • If you click Action Summary it gives you an ID Your Free Tree application is being assessed! FT-2020-1910.

    I think I am order# 1910. Only 8,750 will need to get in quick…

  • Got the lemon meyer tree, anyone have any tips on how to pot this and keep it alive, I am a total newbie haha

  • Thanks OP. I don't mind a KumQuat tree if available.

  • Are the fruit trees all out? Dont see any.

  • +2

    I ordered Tuckeroo - will plant on nature strip at the front of house.

    • +2

      are residents allowed to do that? Or is that council property?

  • hmm, can't see any fruit tree from either 1 or 3 tree drop-down list from any council.

    • ozbargained? lol

  • +2

    Yep looks like no more fruit trees :(

  • fruit trees all gone by the look of it

  • All I want is a cumquat tree. I was planning to buy one anyways

  • +2

    Great deal for Bunnings, many people will probably end up impulse buying a bunch of other stuff when they go and pick up their "free tree"

  • What an awesome initiative - I recall City of Sydney doing this sort of thing regularly but you have to reside there and chances are if you're in the middle of Sydney you're probably not going to get a lot of room to plant anything…

    Can't go wrong with Callistemons so chose a combination of those (2.5-3m max hight for those varieties). Bird attracting and low water usage.

  • blueberry ash looks nice, got a few of those

    FYI I was app 2315

    heaps more to go yet.

  • Cannot get a tree now I'm saying as you cannot register.

    • Maybe your suburb

  • I was app #2828, plenty left

    • how would you know how many left?

      • Limited to the first 8,750 households

  • Thanks, this is a nice initiative.
    No fruit trees available in my council but blueberry ash and tuckeroo look nice.
    As others have said the list includes quite a few Lilly pillys, a banksia, callistemon, gum.

  • When you pick up your lemon tree at Bunnings.
    What kind of soil you recommend to go with it?
    Or just any potting mix is ok?

    • +2

      The best quality you can afford - cheapest stuff won't do well for long and you don't want to have to repot a lemon tree too often - and keep an eye on pests - unfortunately, lemon trees get attacked by a shitload of bugs - mine have scale at the moment and after covering the leaves in white oil I've got it under control but 50% of leaves have dropped off :( In the last 3 years I only had a few lemons 1 year :) Glad I didn't pay for the tree.

  • I went with some lilly pilly big reds! So excited to plant them :)

  • Got page not found?!

  • Has anyone actually got their Bunnings Voucher yet???

    Last time they ran this, they wanted me to upload a Development Planning Certificate!

    No way!

  • I wanted to get a lemon tree but their selection was Banksia, Frangipani and lilly pilli only. Could you get a lemon tree in Sydney?

    • No fruit trees left. Few of any left now as they get towards the end.

  • +1

    Anyone got their trees yet?

  • Did not hear any from bunnings

  • I've visited local Bunnings and noticed they had the tree I wanted in stock but I've not heard anything about it being ready for pickup. I think the form said I'd hear from them within 10 days

    • +1

      15 business days

  • just pick my 3 x lilly pilly big red . time to plant it :-)

  • I have not received any email from bunnings to pick up the tree.

  • No email received here either

  • Went to Bunnings to enquire, they spent about 20 minutes trying to find my order in the system and were unable to. Hmm. Maybe there is a bug in the system. Interesting only one person has posted that they have collected their trees. They said there were about 60 orders at their store.

  • I got the voucher email from Bunnings on 20 Aug. It says that they will contact you once the trees are ready for collection, you have 7 days to collect otherwise they will cancel the order. I haven’t been contacted yet to collect.

  • +1

    Still no word..

  • +2

    "Thank you for your recent Free Tree Order and for helping us work towards planting one million trees in Greater Sydney by 2022. This email has been sent to provide an update on your recent Free Tree Order.

    We’ve received an overwhelming number of applications for the initiative and with an increased demand on plants during COVID-19, unfortunately order processing is taking on average 20-25 working days. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

    In addition, we have been made aware that some tree species are currently out of stock. The Department and Bunnings are working with the growers to see what trees can be made available to you ASAP."

  • +1

    Received the same email. Ordered 3 trees - 2 blueberry ash and 1 tuckeroo. Just hoping not to get replacement trees as they might not fit our site.

  • +1

    Didn't receive that email but expected that might have been the case

  • Got the delayed email as well. Hmmm!! So much for free trees !! :)

  • After getting the delayed email a few days ago, I now received the voucher telling me my order has been sent to Bunnings. Looks like they are moving faster than they anticipated.

    • I also got the email this morning and happened to go to Bunnings, there's a trolley full of trees for pick up. Lots of lemon trees for those who got in early with their order

    • Did the email came form bunnings or from planning nsw?

      • Email comes from Bunnings HQ saying my order has been sent to my chosen Bunnings warehouse and it will take them 7 to 10 working days to process the order.
        The order is to be picked up at the special order counter.

        • What order number are you?

          I'm like order number around 1700 and still no email from Bunnings.

          • @atlinus: I think I was 3065. I’d say it depends on the type of tree you ordered.

          • @atlinus: I'm order 169X for a lemon tree which will now be a dwarf meyer. I received the email from Bunnings today and am waiting for the call.

  • I haven't had any email updates. Nothing about the delay and nothing from Bunnings..

  • +1

    Just got this email:

    "We have received an overwhelming number of applications. Unfortunately, the level of demand means that the tree species and the pot size that you have selected are currently unavailable and will remain unavailable for the foreseeable future. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

    We appreciate your interest and would like to offer you 1 x dwarf Lemon Meyer tree or 3 x 180mm – 200 mm substitute trees instead."

    • +2

      Got the same. I'll take the lemon tree.

      • Same, initially wanted lemon but sold out, chose something else and I had to do it again due to wrong pot size available in the form (by the time I did this they sold out of the plants I selected) - now back to lemon :)

  • +1

    Just picked up my trees. I ordered 2 blueberry ash trees and 1 tuckeroo. Bunnings got an order for 2 tuckeroos and 1 blueberry ash and whoever prepared my order put aside 3 Tuckeroos!

    Tried to get the trees I actually ordered but it was all too hard. We are now the proud owners of 3 tuckeroos! Good luck to everyone!

    • no email from bunnings

      • +1

        Still no email from Bunnings here either

        • Same.

          Anyone here knows where to follow up on the status of the tree.

    • +1

      I got the voucher email on the same day, but called up Bunnings and they said my order hasn't come in yet

      • Is that email from bunnings or from the gov?

        • The we're delayed email was from the gov, the voucher activation email was from Bunnings

          • +1

            @deeevan: Gov already confirmed and instruction to wait for bunnings email but i dont recieved any from bunnings.

  • I got this on 7th September:

    Good morning

    Thank you for recently applying for the Free Tree Giveaway. Your participation helps us work towards planting one million trees in Greater Sydney by 2022.

    We have received an overwhelming number of applications. Unfortunately, the level of demand means that the tree species and the pot size that you have selected are currently unavailable and will remain unavailable for the foreseeable future. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

    We appreciate your interest and would like to offer you 1 x dwarf Lemon Meyer tree or 3 x 180mm – 200 mm substitute trees instead.

    To proceed, please fill in this online form and either:

    select your substitute tree species from the available list, or
    withdraw your application from the Free Tree Giveaway, if the available species are not suitable for your home.

    Please complete the form by COB Monday 21 September to ensure we can quickly process your Free Tree Application (estimated processing time is 10 working days). If no response is received by 21 September, your application for the Free Tree Giveaway will be withdrawn.

    Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

    Kind regards

    The Free Trees Team

  • +1

    But nothing since and I have completed the form before the due date.

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