It is increasingly common for branches to break off in the summer due to the extreme drought. It is a development that goes hand in hand with more extreme weather conditions. “We never saw this before,” green experts also see.
The spontaneously falling branches that the municipality of Hilversum warned about today are not a one-off phenomenon that is limited to the Gooi. That is what Berry Verbeek of Versteeg Tree Care in Zwaanshoek says.
“We have several examples of branch breakage in recent weeks,” says Verbeek. “We had a chestnut tree in Aerdenhout. A branch broke off in the middle of the night, while there was not a breath of wind. The branch had a diameter of about 35 to 40 centimeters and was eight meters long. Children had played under it during the day .”
Breaking beech
Branches of an oak in Heemstede and a beech in Bloemendaal also came down. According to Verbeek, it is no coincidence that the branches break off in these places. “They are all places on sandy soil. This soil is the driest. On black soil and clay soil, the moisture is retained better and the problem is less great there.”
At high temperatures and long periods of drought, a tree evaporates more liters of water than it absorbs through the roots. So they dry out slowly. “If this takes a long time, the wood becomes less stable and it also loses strength. That is why such large and heavy branches often break off. The tree can no longer support these branches.”
Staatsbosbeheer also sees that many branches fall during the dry periods in the summer, but does not foresee any major problems for their own areas for the time being. “We do not yet see the branch break in our nature reserves,” says forester Samuelle van Deutekom. She manages forests near Schoorl for Staatsbosbeheer, among others. “I know from colleagues that it is not an issue in the Kop van Noord-Holland or in West Friesland. Our areas are complete ecosystems that are much more resistant to drought than trees that are planted separately.”
Unfortunately, the measures that can be taken are very limited, according to Berry Verbeek. According to him, watering the large trees only works in theory: “If you are going to start with that, then you can stand there with the water tank. Such a tree uses far too much water, which makes no sense at all. The only thing that you can do is keep those very large branches shorter, this will take the weight off and they won’t break off as quickly.