Garden Cosmetics

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The bark of trees, like human skin, does not tolerate large changes in temperature. She begins to crack, become covered with wounds. This is used by numerous pests that make shelter for themselves in wounds, further undermining the strength of the wounded tree. To protect trees from the vagaries of nature, it is necessary to resort to the help of "cosmetics" for plants

Whitewashing tree trunks

The simplest and cheapest cosmetic product for tree bark is lime. Today you can buy in the store a water-dispersion paint specially designed for this purpose. Its white color will protect the bark from sunburn in spring, when the soil is not yet warmed up enough for the tree's vital sap to begin its circulation, which can create a comfortable relationship between the plant and the environment. Hot spring rays during the day and light frost at night injure the unprotected bark. White paint reflects solar heat, preventing it from overheating the bark, and the composition of the paint calmly lets the air that the tree needs to breathe.

If it is not possible to purchase such a special paint, the usual lime will do. To extinguish two kilograms of lime, a ten-liter bucket of water is required. For the durability of whitewashing before spring rains, casein glue (80 grams) can be added to the solution. And for pest control - copper sulfate (450 grams).

It is recommended to whitewash trees twice a year:

* The first time - before budding in the spring, when the snow has already melted in the garden.

* The second time is when a tree has thrown off its leafy outfit in the fall.

Whitewashing should be done on a fine day. The height of the whitewash should cover not only the trunk of the tree, but also the leading branches. Before you get down to business, you should cleanse the tree trunk from all that is superfluous: the obsolete part of the bark, moss, dry grass. Thoroughly whiten cracks. It is especially good to pierce the barrel from the south-facing side.

Garden var

Although trees do not frolic like children, they are not immune to injury. Small rodents can inflict wounds on them, from which it is not always possible to completely rid their territory, as well as humans. You can injure wood by peeling it before whitewashing. Inoculating, pruning branches, we inflict wounds that require treatment. Untreated wounds are a hot spot for pests and infections. For treatment, use a special putty or var.

You can buy a ready-made var in special stores, or you can cook it yourself.

Solidol

Solidol is an ointment made from industrial oils. To thicken it, fatty acids of plant origin or synthetic ones are used. This turns solidol into a medicine not only for machines and mechanisms, but also for trees. Moreover, he is not afraid of rains, since the grease is difficult to wash out with water: it just slides over it.

Solidol can be used as an independent medicine, or supplements can be made to it. For example, add 200 grams of liquid wax and 50 grams of liquid pine resin to 250 grams of dissolved solid oil. We will make them liquid by heating each component of the future medicine separately, and then combine and mix all three. Let's fill a glass jar with medicine. If the mixture turns out to be watery, you can add wood ash to it, having previously sieved it. If our ointment is too viscous, you can add vegetable oil by heating the mixture in a jar in a water bath. You can go to the garden to heal trees. We apply the elixir of life to the wound and rub it over the entire surface of the injury. The tree will thank you for the treatment, quickly covering the wounds with a protective vegetative layer and giving you an excellent harvest of healthy and juicy fruits in the fall.

Rosin

If pine resin is not at hand, it can be replaced with rosin. In essence, this is also a resin, or rather, a mixture of resin acids, insoluble in water. To obtain a medicine for trees, wax and any animal fat are added to rosin.

Other cosmetics

For minor injuries, scratches, you can use ordinary pharmacy greenery or potassium permanganate (easier, potassium permanganate). True, since 2006, potassium permanganate has been included in the lists of substances prohibited for free sale, since some craftsmen make drugs from it, and others - explosive devices. They say that over six grams can only be bought with a doctor's prescription. Since I am not fond of the production of drugs and explosive devices, I did not encounter the problem of buying, since there are still old stocks, bought on occasion in the good old days.

If you are going to relax abroad, do not take potassium permanganate with you, so as not to fall into the category of people involved in drug smuggling.