Researchers from Wageningen UR wrapped warm water pipes (40 degrees Celsius) and insulation materials around horse chestnuts in Amsterdam, Dordrecht and Tilburg so as to kill the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. This persistent bacterium is making half the 200,000 horse chestnuts in the Netherlands sick. Researchers Andre van Lammeren and Fons van Kuik of Wageningen UR have been studying this situation for years and hope to wipe out the disease using heat – the bacterium does not survive temperatures above 39 degrees Celsius. The photo shows a chestnut tree in Tilburg all wrapped up.
Heated chestnut trees
Dozens of chestnut trees in the Netherlands have been providedwith a warm jacket in the past few months.
