Translated material
City in fluff
Annual pruning of poplars does not save the capital
Moscow has an annual June natural disaster - poplar fluff. For at least a week, all the roads and lawns of the capital are covered with gray-white cotton wool, ubiquitous fluff flies in the air, getting into the nose, mouth and hair, poplar seeds penetrate even through tightly closed windows and clog vacuum cleaners... Swelling and sneezing allergy sufferers are on what the poplar scourge is cursed by the light, despite the annual assurances of doctors that an allergic reaction, as a rule, is caused not by fluff, but by the pollen of plants blooming at this time. Firefighters are afraid that the easily flammable fluff will cause a series of fires; janitors sadly watch as a freshly swept yard becomes covered with a white coating in a matter of minutes.To the traditional question “Where are the authorities looking?!” These same authorities wearily answer that, they say, “measures are being taken.” The chief plant protection specialist at the State Unitary Enterprise Moszelenkhoz, Alexandra Matsuk, told ITAR-TASS yesterday that no one is going to cut down all Moscow poplars. Moreover, they make up only 7.5% of all green spaces in the city and “emit air purifying substances.” Moreover, according to her, most of the capital's poplars are males, from which fluff does not fly. Nevertheless, as any Muscovite or guest of the capital can notice, the remaining “female minority” is quite enough to cover the entire city with its “snow” every year.
According to Ms. Matsuk, the main way to combat the June downy scourge is to prune poplars. The tree is simply cut down at a height of six meters, and after that it does not annoy anyone for another five years. True, this circumcision is quite expensive for the city. As a representative of Moszelenkhoz noted, such a “haircut,” depending on the height and width of the crown, can cost about 1,400 rubles. And if the poplar is too tall and special equipment is required for pruning, then it will cost 5 thousand. In addition, all the “downy” poplars in Moscow are a legacy of a difficult past; now only “dust-free” varieties are planted in the capital - Berlin and pyramidal.
Poplar is perhaps now the most common tree in Moscow. According to some estimates, up to 400 thousand of these trees grow in the capital. However, this was not always the case: they say that even half a century ago poplar was not so often found on city streets. However, gradually these unpretentious trees became almost the main symbol of Moscow, along with the ruby stars of the Kremlin, traffic jams, the university, the arena and Mr. Luzhkov’s cap.
According to one of the widespread versions, the mass planting of poplars in the capital took place back in the Stalin era, when, they say, the authorities intended to make Moscow a green city. But the “Khrushchev” hypothesis is considered more reliable. Apparently, poplars conquered the capital when mass construction of residential areas began. Since the Soviet style of development presupposed the preliminary cutting down of all green spaces, new apartment buildings initially stood on bare, dug-up vacant lots. In order to somehow improve this lunar landscape, both the regular landscapers and the residents themselves planted more bushes and trees. And poplars, naturally, were very popular: this tree grows extremely quickly on almost any land, does not require special care, rarely gets sick, and, even if some bully breaks it, it will quickly sprout new shoots. But no one was going to figure out whether the seedling was a male or female tree. And it was easier with allergies and asthma in the country then: these diseases began to be considered a serious and widespread problem only in the 80s.
Later, poplar began to defeat other species due to the fact that it is well adapted to urban ecology. It is not so easy to find a plant that is ready to exist in the harsh conditions of a metropolis. And if coniferous trees, for example, suffer and die in the Moscow smog (nowadays in the capital it is not so easy to find pine or larch with a living, not dried top), then poplars, it seems, do not care about car exhaust.
As a result, the poplar became something like “Moscow sakura”. In Japan, every year everyone waits for the pink cherry blossom period - this is a sign of the arrival of spring. In the capital, poplar fluff marks the beginning of a real urban summer - hot, stuffy and dusty. True, unlike the Japanese, Muscovites almost hate their “downy sakura”, but, alas, they can’t do anything.
By the way, almost two years ago, on June 13, 2003, when journalists pestered Moszelenkhoz with the eternal “pooh question”, the same Alexandra Matsuk explained about the same “deep pruning of trees”, about the fact that now only males and non-dusting varieties of these trees, about the fact that poplars cannot be cut down, since they have a beneficial effect on the air... However, either Moszelenkhoz does not have time to prune female trees, or they plant few Berlin poplars, but over the past two There seems to be no less June fluff in Moscow this year.