agri-biotech company Treehold from Reeuwijk has enlisted WeLLDesign for the further development of its heating mat for the thermal treatment against bleeding canker in horse chestnut trees.
Since 2002, chestnuts in the Netherlands have been threatened by chestnut bleeding disease. For chestnut trees, this bleeding disease is extremely threatening. Most horse chestnuts succumb to it.
The method
A heat treatment, the Treehold method, is currently the only method to halt the disease. The tree is then wrapped in a heating mat, which rids the tree of the disease-causing bacterium as much as possible. First, a blanket must be attached around the tree and then it must reach the correct temperature. In winter, that can easily take an hour and a half. Subsequently, the heating stays on for at least another two hours, between 42 and 45 degrees. No colder, no warmer. Marc Derksen is managing director at Treehold. He says, ’The bacterium can no longer multiply at this temperature. This enables the tree to solve the problem itself.’
So, the tree is, as it were, put into a jacket. That jacket is a warm, pliable infrared blanket. This gives the tree the necessary time to recover and the chance to overgrow the damage. The bark of the diseased tree is therefore heated with infrared for hours. That infrared blanket is powered by a generator in a Treehold van. The heat gives the tree a boost. It acts as a kind of fever therapy, which ensures that the disease-causing bacterium is rendered harmless.
The further development
WeLLDesign is developing the heating mat (The solution) from Treehold through to a product that:
- can be produced in series with reproducible quality,
- is easy to transport and store, and
- easier to apply the tree is: ergonomically sound, less labour-intensive and less cumbersome than now.
The banner photo shows an impression of the new product. The photos below show the ‘old’ heating mat.
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