The Public Services area has launched the pilot project with which it is intended to verify whether an extra water supply to the city’s laurels of the Indies, which are in a worse state, is capable of stopping their decline and death, as is as recommended by the arborist expert hired by the Santa Cruz City Council, Josep Selga, who pointed to the lack of water as the main problem of diseased trees. This was confirmed to DIARIO DE AVISOS by the mayor of the area, Guillermo Díaz Guerra, who explained that it is about the installation of an additional water point that will be hooked to the irrigation system with which the “chimneys” will be supplied. the water to the subsoil.
As the expert explained to this newspaper last May, “what we propose is to carry out a test with three specimens at different points on the Rambla and Avenida de Reyes Católicos, to which we will provide an extraordinary water supply, but not in the area of the alcorque, but in what is the pavement of the walk; what we are interested in is promoting the fine, absorbent roots that are tucked under the pavement ”.
It has already begun to mark the points in which it is going to intervene and that correspond to the ficus that is at the height of number 122 of the Ramblas (the third counting from San Martín street); the tree in front of number 155 (the twelfth from the beginning of the Rambla); and the laurel on Avenida Reyes Catolico, at number 6. Each point will be fenced and with a sign that will explain the work that is being carried out.
As detailed by Selga “if we are able to generate new root formation under the pavement, the tree will probably have more rooted absorbent system, therefore, it will have more capacity to collect the water it needs”. Contrary to what may be believed, in this case, that of the laurels of the Indies, it is more important to water them with a large flow and less frequently than vice versa. “What it is about is to give them a significant amount of water over a period of time.” Thus, for six months, in the three chosen specimens the pavement will be drilled doing what Selga calls chimneys. “Through them we will make the contribution of water. If the answer is positive, which we hope so, then measures will already be taken for all the trees, measures that will affect the pavements and that will have to be designed with a forecast for the future ”, he concluded.
