Survival monitoring: the two to three years that decide whether a plot becomes a forest.

Generally two to three years. Through that period the plot is watered, weeded and topped up with mulch while the canopy closes. Once closed, the plot shades out weeds and retains its own moisture, and routine care can be withdrawn. That self-sustaining stage is the objective of the method.

Mainly the soil preparation, the match between species and site, the season of planting, and the discipline of watering and weeding through the first two summers. Sapling quality and correct planting depth matter as well. Where a plot underperforms, the cause is usually traceable to one of these rather than to the method.

No responsible practitioner guarantees a fixed survival percentage, and some natural thinning is expected in a dense plantation by design. What can be committed to is the maintenance regime, the replacement of casualties during the maintenance period, and honest recorded monitoring of what the plot is actually doing.

Watering is frequent in the first summer and reduces year on year; supervisory monitoring visits are typically periodic through the season, more often in the first year. The schedule is agreed in the maintenance contract, and the frequency should be higher in the dry months than the monsoon.

They are replaced with the same species, in the same layer, so the composition of the plot does not drift toward whatever survives easiest. Replacement is normally done in the following planting window rather than in peak summer, when a fresh sapling has little chance.

Species-wise counts, sample height and girth measurements, canopy-closure observation, replacement records, and dated photographs from fixed points. These make up the evidence base an owner needs for CSR or ESG disclosure and for any clearance or consent condition that references the plantation.

The plot is handed over as a closed-canopy plantation that needs no routine watering, weeding or fertilising. Occasional inspection is sensible (for fire risk, invasive climbers, or encroachment), but active horticultural maintenance is deliberately withdrawn, and continuing it would work against the method.