2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Probably, all of us from childhood remember the following lines from the poem: "We all whitewashed the Chinese apple trees in the morning so that the sun bunnies would not spoil their bark." And immediately it pops up in my memory that on the eve of the May Day holiday, once upon a time, all the trees were necessarily whitewashed. Although they whitewashed not only the trees, but also the pillars. For beauty. Both cities and villages immediately looked as if they were more elegant, more beautiful and brighter
Some people to this day, without hesitation, whitewash trees. And someone asks the question: is it necessary to carry out this operation or is it "monkey labor"? Is whitewashing useful? Maybe you shouldn't waste your time and you won't get anything but beauty from whitewashing? So do you need to whitewash the trees or can you leave them alone? Let's take a look at this issue.
Why whitewash trees?
The main function of whitewashing trees is to protect the tree from pests, from sunburn, from sudden changes in temperature, from icing, and so on. In addition, lime mortar is an excellent remedy for various mosses and lichens that inhabit trees. That is, the whitewashing of trees is not a decorative, but a protective function.
How to whiten?
In my memory, slaked lime has always been used to whitewash trees. I still remember how my grandmother and I prepared lime for whitewashing in a large barrel in the yard: so that there was enough for the trees, and for the pillars, and for the neighbors. But in our time, in hardware stores and garden hypermarkets, you can buy special whitewashing mixtures based on lime or chalk with the addition of various adhesives, most often PVA glue is used, as the safest, so that the whitewash does not wash off the trunk longer, and copper sulfate, so that provide better protection against pests.
But it is not necessary to buy expensive ready-made whitewash mixtures. It is quite possible to cook them yourself. Ladies proportions for a 10 liter bucket. So, we need 2.5 kilograms of freshly slaked lime (it can be replaced with chalk, but I don't really like chalk, since, according to my observations, chalk is washed off faster), 100 gr. PVA glue and 500 gr. copper sulfate. We dilute copper sulfate with hot water, I dilute it in a liter and a half. Let it cool, then pour it into a bucket, add glue and slaked lime there. Mix everything thoroughly and dilute with water to the consistency of liquid sour cream. It is enough to whitewash the trees with such a solution once in the spring and once in the fall.
When to whitewash trees?
There are two types of whitewashing: spring and autumn. Each is important in its own way. Spring whitewashing should be done not on the eve of the May holidays, as is customary "among the people", but in March or early April, immediately after the snow melts. It is imperative to whitewash the trees before the first leaves appear and before the sun warms up the earth and air and various harmful insects wake up.
It is customary to carry out autumn whitewashing in late autumn, at the end of October-November, when the air temperature will be about 2-3 degrees Celsius. The main purpose of the autumn whitewashing is to protect the main branches of the tree from icing, temperature drops, sunburn.
How to whitewash trees?
Before whitewashing, be sure to carefully examine the trees. Remove various mushrooms, moss, dead bark, lichens from the bark. Do not leave anything that you remove on the ground, but collect it in a special container, or immediately, before cleaning the tree, lay an unnecessary blanket or film on the ground. Then burn all the cleanings.
If in the process of work you accidentally injured a tree, then be sure to treat the wounds with garden varnish.
Now you can proceed directly to the whitewashing of the trees. For this type of work, either a small convenient brush or a special spray gun is used. In the case of using a spray gun, be prepared for the fact that the consumption of the whitewashing composition will increase significantly.
Important! In no case should you whitewash young trees with thin, uncoarse bark. Since whitewashing in this case (especially if a solution is used with the addition of adhesives, including PVA glue) leads to clogging of pores, deterioration of gas exchange, and slowing down of tree growth.
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