Tree surgery, the new way to prevent tree falling

T ree surgery, the new way to prevent tree falling
Vijay Times

ARE you aware of the fact that there are 1,854 different species of plants in the Lalbagh Botanical Garden? A lot of these plants are dying down due to age and lack of maintenance. In an attempt to save these species, Lalbagh has initiated the technique of tree surgery . The process involves removal of the dry and broken branches of the trees.

"This surgery is helpful in increasing the longevity of plants and canopy management as well," said the deputy director of Lalbagh, M Jagdish. "At times, we need to remove branches from the lower parts of the trees for the purpose of landscaping and from upper parts of the trees for proper solar radiation," he added.

If any tree is suffering from fungal infection or is infected by cavity , this modern treatment offers a solution to that. As Jagdish points out such wounds lead to further injury resulting in the death of the tree. T o prevent this, the decayed portions of the plants are scooped out, insecticides or fungicides are sprayed as required and then this portion of the tree is cemented. "This also strengthens the trees and avoids further falling during natural calamities," said Jagdish.

This programme was first initiated in Lalbagh a month back and now it’s being practiced at Cubbon park and Indira Gandhi Park as well. A tree surgery squad has been formed by the Horticulture Department with a team of five member gardeners, their equipments being a power operated saw , ladders and telescopic pruner .

T ree surgery is the practice of repairing damaged trees to restore their appearance and to arrest disease. Injured or diseased par ts are first removed (even small cavities in the bark may harbour injurious fungi and insects), the sur faces are treated with antiseptics and healing aids and the cavity may be filled with cement or some special material, e.g., composition filler or elastic cement. Professional tree surgeons commonly perform many tasks in addition to surgery that are difficult for the individual gardener e.g., large-scale pruning and providing proper suppor t when needed.