Painting the Trunks of Trees

[Old Monkey]

My Bulgarian ground guy wounds why we don't do this anymore. I remember that the trees in the orchards when I was a kid were all painted white. What did they use and did it work for pests? Anyone know anything about this practice?

 

[treelooker]

Whitewash has calcium, which trees need.

Sunscald prevention

 

[stehansen]

It was to prevent sunburn until the tree could shade itself. I did it on the apples, they would sunburn and then flathead borers would colonize them. But if the bark was good the borers wouldn't bore. It is still done on walnut trees but I don't think they do the almonds or apricots. They used water based cheap paint.

 

[gf beranek]

No need to say anymore about that.

 

[Old Monkey]

Could the trees take in calcium through the trunk or did have to wash off onto the ground.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Growing up we had a number of large fruit trees in the back yard. Huge amount of peaches and plums every year, Grandma would put them up for the freezer, a delicious cold dessert in California. I had to rake the leaves. Dad always painted the trunks white, an annual activity. I seem to remember something about insects being mentioned. Endlessly raking the leaves kind of deadened my interest.

 

[Old Monkey]

Our stone fruits get attacked by borers at the base of the tree. I wondered if the paint had an effect on that.

 

[NeTree]

I remember as a kid they painted for gypsy moth caterpillars; just a stripe of sticky stuff, though.

 

[Al Smith]

It used to be the practice to white wash them years back using powdered lime and water .I has just assumed it was done for decoration rather than bug repellant .

 

[Paul B]

Italians do it here still, quick lime, soft soap and a sunny day needed to apply. The premise is the white paint reflects the heat of the sun making it a tough road to travel for insects. I can't see the logic for doing it here in the pacific northwest rainforest :roll:

 

[Al Smith]

When I was a youngster we used to white wash the hen house about once a year .Run all the hens out and the grumpy old rooster .Rinse the walls down with a hose then lay the white wash on with a great wide brush .Let em back in a couple of hours . They'd peck at it a little and then just go about the business of being a chicken .

Seems to me the rooster had the best job from my observation of the whole thing .

 

[sotc]

We deal with sun scald here, I always put trunk tubes on when exposed to the sun

 

[Old Monkey]

Yeah, we get plenty of sun scald here too. Its the pest control aspect that I am curious about.

 

[Mr. Sir]

We deal with sun scald here, I always put trunk tubes on when exposed to the sun

Do you have a matching shirt?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[woodworkingboy]

I see on the web that one professor of plant and soil science also mentions painting as a protection against winter cold. Thick paint he recommends.

 

[gf beranek]

Well sure enough more can be said about it. I should strike my earlier post.

 

[Al Smith]

How can the sun scald the bark of a tree any way ? Is this some under canopy variety grown in the open or something ?

 

[Paul B]

Its like a sunburn on your own skin Al, some trees are very susceptible to damage.

 

[FJR]

You have to think of it as expansion and contraction, like cracks in concrete. Hot sun on thin bark during cold winter days expands the bark, then the sun goes down and you get contraction. Do it over and over again and you splitting and decay which is common on the southwest side of the tree. That is why is sometimes called the southwest disease.

 

[Underwor]

I saw a lot of that during my visit to Russia in 2003. It was a subject of discussion with Dmitriy on the old trees, timber and arboriculture site.

 

[woodworkingboy]

As a child looking out at the freshly painted smooth trunks of our trees, it was a weird sensation, a little unsettling, like looking at big bones sticking up out of the ground.

 

[Frax]

I guess we are not tired of hashing over this kind of stuff.

I have seen this most often in tropical places. I am told it's to reflect heat from the trunk. Why would a tropical hardy tree need protection from the tropical sun? I wonder. But maybe its because the trees are unnaturally limbed up or growing in an exposure they would not normally tolerate. Guesses only. I have never heard oif this as a pest treatment or preventative.

I have heard the sunscald theory for northern climates in winter. But our climate in Calgary is unnaturally harsh on even hardy trees and this is not a practice seen here. I have seen trunk wrap and plastic spiral tubing used to protect young trees from winter sun damage.

I think hardy trees that are properly grown in a local climate should not need protection after planting. But many trees are not local or properly grown, hence intervention might be needed short term. Guesses again.

The tree banding with sticky crap is used to trap taregted insects. These are insects that crawl up the trunk to breed and/or lay eggs. We are talking about wingless moths like fall cankerworm. Its not a prophylactic treatment. No use whatsoever unless targeted insects are strongly suspected.

I'm tired of so-called experts proposing tree bands for bugs that fly to their targets as most bugs do.

 

[jefflovstrom@sb]

My bud has an avacado ranch. He does it to prevent sun scald and never removes tree litter (leaves). Mainly to prevent shock.

 

[Al Smith]

Like I said the only time I've ever seen white washed tree trunks was at
"hoity toits " places .I haven't seen it done in years though .

That stuff was done in so called upscale residental settings with manicured lawns ,awnings etc .They also planted crimson maple ,paper birch and other odd ball lawn trees just to look cool .

To each their own I guess .I doubt those folks ever walked on those lawns for fear they'd leave foot prints .Nor do I imagine they'd pee on a tree which I find very delightfull ,kind of like old Fido .