About - Plantearth

PLANT A TREE

Sounds like one simple tree planting app? That’s where your contribution to green wave in forestry begins. You buy a tree and we plant it where it is cozy for it to grow – a new forest space created by PLANT, where the needs of men and nature are balanced. In doing so, we consult with scientists and specialists so that in good will we would not inadvertently cause harm. Our approach is holistic – we look at the biosphere as a whole. Sometimes planting trees alone is not enough, and therefore 5% of every purchase made on PLANT page goes to a fund intended for the restoration of Estonian bogs and wooded meadows.

Bogs

Covering only 3% of earth’s surface, bogs store more carbon than all of world’s forests combined and play an important role in cleaning and regulating our freshwater resources. Estonia ranks second in the world in terms of swamping (22% of the country’s area) and our drained bogs emit 8 times more CO2 into the atmosphere than all our means of transport combined. Thus, the restoration of bogs should be one of the first steps on the path of Estonia’s carbon neutrality.

Wooded Meadows

Wooded meadow is a heritage terrain formed from the symbiosis of nature and man. They have high species richness. In some of the current Estonian wooded meadows, world record species densities have been recorded (up to 76 species per square meter). As many as 40% of our native plants love to grow there. Unfortunately, their area in Estonia has decreased about 100 times in past 100 years. We support the restoration of wooded meadows.

Which trees do we plant?

Spruce, pine and birch are permanently available in Estonia as forest seedlings. We affectionately call them log triplets, because our sawmills can handle only these three species. This trend has had a negative effect on the richness of species in our forests, because we actually have almost 50 different native tree species growing in Estonia. PLANT will bring maple seedlings to the market by the end of next year and linden two years after that. Five year goal is to add oak to our permanent selection.

PLANT FOREST

If PLANT A TREE is the product of our platform, then PLANT FOREST is the heart. That’s what sets us apart from everyone else.That’s why PLANT’s way is the future. We will open PLANT FOREST module in 2021. More and more forests belong to fewer and fewer people. Forests could belong to communities who care for them. After the planting processes are completed, PLANT creates a legal body around the forest land (forest becomes a small business) and sells it in shares to the community. Thus, each buyer owns a stake of whole forest, not just a small square. Collective control also reduces the possibility of harmful self-activity and makes forest ownership accessible to all. The platform will also allow communities to find the necessary investment to acquire homeland forest that is at risk of clear-cutting.

Wood

Plant does not fight against wood management in the forest. We simply find that forests are much more complex part of the biosphere than the fields are – they should not be managed as such. Our biggest innovation in this domain is the management of permanent forests (managed without clear cutting method) with the help of drones.
Drones have been used for forest monitoring and inventory for some time. They help detect outbreaks, robberies, forest fires and windfalls. Larger drones can be used for forest planting. We are adapting a technology in which a drone fires a seed inside a biodegradable nutrient capsule into the soil via air pressure. This allows two people to plant up to 40,000 trees a day – about 20 times faster than planting seedlings by hand. There is a working technology for that, it just needs to be adapted to Estonian conditions. By combining an innovative and traditional method, we will be able to offer unprecedented efficiency and cost savings in just a few years.
But the real innovation lies in super heavy-lifting drones. Many companies have completed prototypes of drones that can carry up to 400kg and fly long distances. PLANT adapts such drones for log transport. We will eliminate the need for a harvester and a log transport tractor in the forest, and lumbering no longer depends on the softness of the soil. We will significantly extend the possible lumbering period and eliminate the need for building large roads and drainage ditches inside our beautiful forests.

How do we value wood?

When valuing wood, we largely focus on our main goal – to reduce Estonian and eventually worlds carbon footprint. We find that amount of wood that is burned is too high in the cycle at the moment. In the mechanical cycle, we pay attention to long-lasting wood solutions and develop the use of alternative species (linden, maple, oak, etc.). In the chemical cycle, we are looking forward to Estonia’s own Graanul Biotech technology for the production of pulp by-products – an indispensable raw material for a real green revolution, but current technologies are becoming profitable in very large volumes and Estonia’s nature (forests and rivers) cannot withstand this load. Molecular value is also becoming more and more tangible, where it is possible to create very different materials from wood residues – for example, durable carbon fiber.

Bees

In cooperation with the domestic Hive Scale technology, we are creating a network of organic beekeeping, which increases the yield of wild food, richness of species and makes the forest earnable through honey products from the moment the trees are planted. Thanks to the technology we use, less human intervention is required, and this provides a more stress-free living environment for the bees. The pure nature of the Nordic countries makes our organic wild honey one of the most valued honeys in the world. The Hive Scale allows forest owners to keep track of harvest data in the hive.

Forest tourism

In cooperation with the domestic manufacturer of small modular houses called Kärg, we create oases of solitude and peace for 1-2 people for a holiday or for one person as an office space – in the middle of the forest! Through this, the forest owner can make the soothing and meditative properties of the forest serve him inversely to the logging activity – the cleaner and healthier the forest, the higher the income in a given tourism module.

Wild food

This module is not so profitable for the forest owner but rather useful. In our activities, we build on the existing ones and develop new techniques on how to increase the yield of wild food in the most natural way possible – edible berries, mushrooms, shoots, roots, etc.

Carbon credits

It is a word that is still rare today, but in a few years it will offer as much talk as excise duty. These are the European Union’s control mechanisms for achieving climate neutrality by agreed time. If a company is engaged in an area that emits some kind of greenhouse gases, it must buy a quota, which in turn is invested into some form of sustainability that absorbs or stores CO2 in the same volume.

There are VER and CER type quotas – voluntary and mandatory. The result of both in nature is the same. At the moment, PLANT can offer VER-type quotas – although this is not taken into account at state level, but thanks to the free choice factor, we can offer much higher marketing value and visibility. A draft is being worked on at European Union level, which will allow PLANT-type companies to offer CER quotas. Our team has already begun preparations for this, and we predict that we will be able to provide them by 2022. We will sell certified quotas, that contribute not only in the reduction of CO2 but also in the restoration of Estonian nature.

PLANT A TREE

Sounds like one simple tree planting app? That’s where your contribution to green wave in forestry begins. You buy a tree and we plant it where it is cozy for it to grow – a new forest space created by PLANT, where the needs of men and nature are balanced. In doing so, we consult with scientists and specialists so that in good will we would not inadvertently cause harm. Our approach is holistic – we look at the biosphere as a whole. Sometimes planting trees alone is not enough, and therefore 5% of every purchase made on PLANT page goes to a fund intended for the restoration of Estonian bogs and wooded meadows.

Bogs

Covering only 3% of earth’s surface, bogs store more carbon than all of world’s forests combined and play an important role in cleaning and regulating our freshwater resources. Estonia ranks second in the world in terms of swamping (22% of the country’s area) and our drained bogs emit 8 times more CO2 into the atmosphere than all our means of transport combined. Thus, the restoration of bogs should be one of the first steps on the path of Estonia’s carbon neutrality.

Wooded Meadows

Wooded meadow is a heritage terrain formed from the symbiosis of nature and man. They have high species richness. In some of the current Estonian wooded meadows, world record species densities have been recorded (up to 76 species per square meter). As many as 40% of our native plants love to grow there. Unfortunately, their area in Estonia has decreased about 100 times in past 100 years. We support the restoration of wooded meadows.

Which trees do we plant?

Spruce, pine and birch are permanently available in Estonia as forest seedlings. We affectionately call them log triplets, because our sawmills can handle only these three species. This trend has had a negative effect on the richness of species in our forests, because we actually have almost 50 different native tree species growing in Estonia. PLANT will bring maple seedlings to the market by the end of next year and linden two years after that. Five year goal is to add oak to our permanent selection.

PLANT FOREST

If PLANT A TREE is the product of our platform, then PLANT FOREST is the heart. That’s what sets us apart from everyone else.That’s why PLANT’s way is the future. We will open PLANT FOREST module in 2021. More and more forests belong to fewer and fewer people. Forests could belong to communities who care for them. After the planting processes are completed, PLANT creates a legal body around the forest land (forest becomes a small business) and sells it in shares to the community. Thus, each buyer owns a stake of whole forest, not just a small square. Collective control also reduces the possibility of harmful self-activity and makes forest ownership accessible to all. The platform will also allow communities to find the necessary investment to acquire homeland forest that is at risk of clear-cutting.

Wood

Plant does not fight against wood management in the forest. We simply find that forests are much more complex part of the biosphere than the fields are – they should not be managed as such. Our biggest innovation in this domain is the management of permanent forests (managed without clear cutting method) with the help of drones.
Drones have been used for forest monitoring and inventory for some time. They help detect outbreaks, robberies, forest fires and windfalls. Larger drones can be used for forest planting. We are adapting a technology in which a drone fires a seed inside a biodegradable nutrient capsule into the soil via air pressure. This allows two people to plant up to 40,000 trees a day – about 20 times faster than planting seedlings by hand. There is a working technology for that, it just needs to be adapted to Estonian conditions. By combining an innovative and traditional method, we will be able to offer unprecedented efficiency and cost savings in just a few years.
But the real innovation lies in super heavy-lifting drones. Many companies have completed prototypes of drones that can carry up to 400kg and fly long distances. PLANT adapts such drones for log transport. We will eliminate the need for a harvester and a log transport tractor in the forest, and lumbering no longer depends on the softness of the soil. We will significantly extend the possible lumbering period and eliminate the need for building large roads and drainage ditches inside our beautiful forests.

How do we value wood?

When valuing wood, we largely focus on our main goal – to reduce Estonian and eventually worlds carbon footprint. We find that amount of wood that is burned is too high in the cycle at the moment. In the mechanical cycle, we pay attention to long-lasting wood solutions and develop the use of alternative species (linden, maple, oak, etc.). In the chemical cycle, we are looking forward to Estonia’s own Graanul Biotech technology for the production of pulp by-products – an indispensable raw material for a real green revolution, but current technologies are becoming profitable in very large volumes and Estonia’s nature (forests and rivers) cannot withstand this load. Molecular value is also becoming more and more tangible, where it is possible to create very different materials from wood residues – for example, durable carbon fiber.

Bees

In cooperation with the domestic Hive Scale technology, we are creating a network of organic beekeeping, which increases the yield of wild food, richness of species and makes the forest earnable through honey products from the moment the trees are planted. Thanks to the technology we use, less human intervention is required, and this provides a more stress-free living environment for the bees. The pure nature of the Nordic countries makes our organic wild honey one of the most valued honeys in the world. The Hive Scale allows forest owners to keep track of harvest data in the hive.

Forest tourism

In cooperation with the domestic manufacturer of small modular houses called Kärg, we create oases of solitude and peace for 1-2 people for a holiday or for one person as an office space – in the middle of the forest! Through this, the forest owner can make the soothing and meditative properties of the forest serve him inversely to the logging activity – the cleaner and healthier the forest, the higher the income in a given tourism module.

Wild food

This module is not so profitable for the forest owner but rather useful. In our activities, we build on the existing ones and develop new techniques on how to increase the yield of wild food in the most natural way possible – edible berries, mushrooms, shoots, roots, etc.

Carbon credits

It is a word that is still rare today, but in a few years it will offer as much talk as excise duty. These are the European Union’s control mechanisms for achieving climate neutrality by agreed time. If a company is engaged in an area that emits some kind of greenhouse gases, it must buy a quota, which in turn is invested into some form of sustainability that absorbs or stores CO2 in the same volume.

There are VER and CER type quotas – voluntary and mandatory. The result of both in nature is the same. At the moment, PLANT can offer VER-type quotas – although this is not taken into account at state level, but thanks to the free choice factor, we can offer much higher marketing value and visibility. A draft is being worked on at European Union level, which will allow PLANT-type companies to offer CER quotas. Our team has already begun preparations for this, and we predict that we will be able to provide them by 2022. We will sell certified quotas, that contribute not only in the reduction of CO2 but also in the restoration of Estonian nature.