Tree specialists are doing everything they can to save the monumental world tree in Eindhoven. The tree, which is about 262 years old, was severely damaged by fire last summer. Part of the blackened tree is still alive. Specialists ‘transplant’ healthy parts to the trunk and roots of the tree on Tuesday. “This has never been tried before on such an old tree. If we don’t try, we’re sure it won’t work.”
“It’s a plane tree and it’s called ‘Spotted Southerner’. He has now become very black spotted,” says Ton Stokwielder of Stichting de Wereldboom. The plane tree in the piece of nature Het Wasven in Eindhoven is one of the nine world trees in the Netherlands. “That means that a place has been created around it so that the tree can live up to a thousand years. That made it very special. We will continue with that plan.”
“There was a deck under the tree. Often there were wedding parties. A fire has been lit on this platform. It caught fire and then there was a sweltering heat.” Three teenagers were arrested for the fire. To save the tree, a crowdfunding campaign was set up and 11,000 euros were raised.
“The tree is very strong.”
The blackened tree seems dead now, but it isn’t. At the trunk of the tree you see a green leaf and that gives Ton a lot of hope. “The tree is very strong. Those roots are so eager to keep the tree alive that they push it out of the ground. Like: ‘We want to live on’. The tree was perfectly healthy until the fire.”
Saving a monumental tree with a transplant, that’s how it goes.
“It is a very special natural phenomenon. The foot is still green. The roots did not suffer in the fire. Then there is a stretch between twelve and sixteen meters that is completely dead. At the top of the crown, parts are still green. Nutrients still go up in the young wood. This will continue as long as the roots have energy. If nothing happens, the tree at the top will die.”
“The chance of success is 70 percent.”
That is why the specialists come into action. Healthy branches at the top will be sawn off on Tuesday. “We will graft them at the base of the trunk and roots. There they have to reconnect. It’s a transplant. The leaves that develop there will take care of the roots and vice versa.”
Shoots can already be seen around the tree: a stem with leaves on it, a kind of baby tree. “We are now going to lend a hand because there are few shoots on the north side.”
Finally, the shoots should make a braid around the trunk so that they will support the old trunk. In thirty years the trunk will rot and then those shoots will have to carry the trunk.
Only in the summer will it become clear whether the rescue operation is a success. “The chance of success is 70 percent.”
