Wednesday, 21 July 2010 09:41

This is the tree that, by his advanced age, has a hole in the trunk. The local residents call El Nogal not let him die. Walnut, who turned 206 years, has a hole in its trunk that it prevents you stand. Experts give between 5 and 10 years of life. On Wednesday, about 9 am, foresters try to give a second wind to the tree that, according to the Bogotá Botanical Garden is the oldest in the city. The walnut, with 206 years of life, is located located at 76th Street with race 9 and will undergo treatment which will last approximately three hours.

The 'surgery' will allow the 'Bicentennial Tree', as is known among specialists, "I went by the group of older plants in the capital for about five or 10 years.


This intervention will

On Wednesday, the tree will be operated with the help of a 'shopping basket', which will allow officials to reach their highest branches and, likewise, will keep the plant suffers some type of injury.

Then they will inject a compound "to strengthen and give effect", explained Francisco Bocanegra, bureau chief of the Botanical Garden tree planting.

If the plan fails to work on this tree that looks very old and with a hole in its trunk, the experts have a plan B.

"Several of their seeds to plant would serve his child, right in the same place," says Bocanegra.
This procedure, which includes comprehensive treatment with a series of pressurized injections of insecticides and nutrients, allow Bogota to continue conserving this historic bicentennial tree, located in the neighborhood of El Nogal.

The tree, the family of Juglandaceaes, is one of the six remaining properties of this species in Bogota.
For six years, the Botanical Garden has been conducting a study to publish the list of heritage trees in the city.

Currently, that list is made up of ten different species, which meet the four characteristics to be declared of age, size, species and cultural value.

Bocanegra said that the so called 'grandfather tree' is a living representation of the city and have long stories to tell.

"Since ancient times, Indians had him as the most important element in their rites of worship, making it the highest tree," the expert.

According to the Botanical Gardens, the oldest living trees in the city are among the races Seventh and Ninth, between Calles 74 and 80.