The town of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Sanse as those who know it best call it, appeared a few days ago with dozens of trees without the lower part of their bark torn off, a fact that has attracted the attention of many residents of the City of Madrid who were puzzled by this.”arboricide»as a neighbor describes on his social networks.
The neighbor in question comments with astonishment and indignation on the striking appearance of dozens of banana trees (Hispanic plane tree) commenting “I am in the park of Avenida de los Pirineos in Saint Sebastian of the Kings and this is the panorama that I have just found.
mechanical action
In the video you can see how an entire row of trees was stripped of their bark in an action that seems mechanicalall cut at practically the same height and with the same dimensions, leaving the trunks completely bare.
I just walked around the park on Av Pirineos, #Sanse and I found the terrible trace of a criminal@sansecomunica @PPSanse @psoesanse @IISanse @mas_sanse @sextaNoticias @SERMadridNorte pic.twitter.com/eG0NUT2CJk
– Luis Merino Ruesga (@MerinoRuesga) September 3, 2024
The mysterious appearance of this bark in Sanse It is not limited to this species of treesothers are also affected, without knowing who or what caused it arboricideThe City Hall, Izquierda Independiente (local political party) and the neighbors have not been able to agree on the cause of this mysterious event.
Rabbits or humans?
From municipal sources, it has been suggested that this stripping of trees could be caused by rabbits gnawing on treesleaving them deprived of their natural protection, excluding any arboricide due to human action in Sanse.
Sources from the San Sebastián de los Reyes city hall told OKGREEN that They regretted the alarm generated by an alleged “environmental attack” to the trees.
They assured from the council that “there are a little over 30 trees whose bark (about 10 centimeters) was torn off near the base due to the bite of wild rabbits on Pirineos Avenue.
Clarify the event
We wanted to know more about this unusual fact after learning that Izquierda Independiente and many neighbors They were not satisfied with these explanations from the town hall. with these peels so well and meticulously executed.
To solve this mystery, we contacted Pepe Plana, agricultural engineergardening entrepreneur of the company Cuida Plantas and advisor to the magazine Mi Jardín, a professional who also has thousands of followers on Facebook and YouTube.
OKGREEN: Have you seen the bare trees in Sanse? How are they doing and what is your perception of this barking?
Pepe Blanes: Man, it’s very clear that an animal could not have done this, because an animal does not understand symmetries. And these are very symmetrical cuts. Very symmetrical peeling. It looks like a person did it.
If the gardeners did it, it must have been a cultural task. In other words, they did it, in some way, in quotes, and I don’t know if it’s done well, to heal the tree, if the tree had some kind of woodworm there or a breakage… And if it hadn’t been a cultural work, they would have been thugs.
P.: Yes, but there are many, there are dozens of them, right?
A: Yes, there are many and that is why I tell you that it is surely an action of a service of the City Council of San Sebastián de los Reyes. There is no other explanation. Can you imagine thugs who have gone to such lengths?
Q: D’OKGREEN, we spoke with a local municipal gardener and he assured us that it was the work of rabbits.
A: No, they are not rabbits, no! Animals, I repeat, do not understand symmetries. Only insect broods are quite symmetrical. Plants understand a lot about fractals and symmetries, but animals do not. So, rabbits could have attacked these bases. a circumstance that does not suit me either.
They would be more like squirrels or rodents, more rodents than rabbits. Rabbits dig the ground and eat mostly grass. For example, rabbits love dandelions. But gnawing a crust, a banana crust, seems very strange to me.
Q: What happened, what effects does it have on the tree now when they were stripped in this way?
A: The tree has three very clearly differentiated parts within the bark. One is the phloem, where the processed sap goes, which is on the outside. Another is the cambium, where cells are made both outside the phloem and inside the silem. Then there is the dilemma: where does the raw sap go?
If only the bark is removed, the tree will continue to function because the bark is only a protector. So, of course, they would have to be protected, but the tree would have nothing.
Now, if these peelings have penetrated into the vessels, they have reached the cambium, which is the organ with which the tree grows outwards and inwards, this actually affects the tree.
P.: That is to say, he could die…
A: He could die if the barking reached the sensitive part of the trunk.
Q: And in this case?
A: It doesn’t look like that from the pictures I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like that at all. It looks like they’ve removed the bark exactly, which is also the one that can be easily removed. In other words, you can, quote, peel off. The bark of a tree comes off relatively easily, but to intervene and remove more inside, you need a serious tool.
Q: What should be done now with trees like this?
A: Right now, given the current state of the trees, it would take money to bring a lot of healing paste to them. Healing paste, usually made from disinfected pitch to apply to these wounds.
This way, woodworms, which are wood-eating insects, can no longer enter. And fungi also do not get in, which is also a danger. Fungi can easily attack.
So healing paste would be one way to combat this problem. But I tell you, it is not cheap. And it would take a lot of time because there are a lot of trees stripped of their bark.
The other solution is simply that the trees produce calluses, that the trees replenish the bark naturally.
Q: How long will it take for their bark to grow back?
A: Well, it takes quite a few years, at least three or four years to make a bark that already protects. So of course, if it were my tree, I would put healing paste on it just before the rains came.
The expert’s opinion clearly leaves us with the answer and the solution to this mysterious arboricide of dozens of trees stripped of their bark, in an almost uniform manner, which is not far from the explanations given by the Sanse Town Hall.
