Spots on the trunk indicate infestation with Pseudomonas bacteria. The bark tears open, mucus comes out. And quickly fungi decompose the wood Photo: Plant Protection Office Berlin
From Hildburg Bruns
Many Berlin chestnuts already bear autumn in summer. Withered leaves eaten by moths. But your new deadly enemy lurks on the trunks.
“No chestnut trees have yet died from the infestation of the leaf miner moth alone,” writes State Secretary for the Environment Silke Karcher (54) to AfD MP Antonin Brousek (60) in response to a request. The only countermeasure against the invaders since the 1990s: collecting and transporting leaves, otherwise the small moth will hatch from the larvae in the leaves.
A deadly enemy of chestnuts, on the other hand, first spread in Marzahn-Hellersdorf in 2013. According to the Plant Protection Office, 27 locations are now affected.
The bacterium Pseudomas syringae has already caused failures.
Above all, the 4,542 red-flowering chestnut trees on streets and in parks are at risk, less so the 22,885 white horse chestnut trees.
How do they get infected? Mostly over the crown by rainwater and aerosols in the wind. Or by insects, birds, tools when pruning trees.
Since symptoms were found on freshly planted chestnuts, the office is currently advising against planting offspring in the city area. Chemical weapons to combat the disease directly are not available.