Four lime trees in Friedrich-Engels-Straße to be felled

Four lime trees have to be felled in Friedrich-Engels-Straße. The felling work will take place on June 26, 2025 for reasons of road safety. Three of the trees are so badly damaged by fungal infestation or rot that it is no longer possible to preserve them. Another tree has suffered massive root damage in the course of the current civil engineering work - here, too, stability is no longer guaranteed.

Two lime trees are clearly affected by the blight fungus, which can pose an acute threat to road safety, especially for this type of tree. The fungus causes intensive white rot in the root and trunk base area. The infestation was clearly identified during regular inspections on the basis of clearly visible fruiting bodies.

A third tree was already assessed as damaged in 2023. A crown shortening had temporarily restored its traffic safety. However, a new inspection in May 2025 revealed massive fungal infestation on the tree slice - a clear indication of progressive decomposition processes in the root area. It is no longer possible to save the tree.

The fourth felling concerns a lime tree that was severely damaged during the ongoing construction work. Significant root loss led to an acute threat to the tree's stability.

Replanting planned

New plantings are planned at the site of the felled trees. In addition, two further, currently unplanted tree slices will be supplemented with new lime trees in order to maintain and improve the streetscape in the long term.

Background: Civil engineering works with special tree protection

Stadtwerke Jena Netze is currently renewing the existing drinking water pipe and the combined sewer in Friedrich-Engels-Straße. The city of Jena and Stadtwerke Jena Netze have defined extensive tree protection measures in advance of the work and are currently implementing them. Among other things, the civil engineering work in the sensitive root area of the trees is being carried out using a suction excavator. In addition, an external expert for tree protection and tree statics is continuously monitoring the work.

The fungal damage that has now been discovered was not caused by the civil engineering work. Rather, they are long-standing diseases that have developed over the past few months.