Painting Trees

Painting Trees
Is painting a lime solution on trees necessary to protect them from insects?

I live in Guatemala. Here people have a passion for painting things white, including rocks, telephone poles, curbs, and tree trunks. They paint with a lime solution that looks like white paint but rubs off on everything. I don't like the way it looks, I prefer to leave rocks and trees natural, but I am told that it is necessary to paint about a meter up on all tree trunks "to protect them from bugs". I think the gardeners just want job security. And I have yet to figure out why cement telephone poles need the same protection.

The method of painting tree trunks here in the U.S. is called
"whitewashing". It is mainly done to protect the trunks of trees from "sun scald". If it is a lime solution, then it is being used as a "preservative" of wood. The white paint, as you know, will "reflect" the sunlight, helping to protect the trunk. A trunk that has been damaged from the high temperatures of sun scald will be more susceptible to disease and insect attack. The white paint also gives an orchard a "clean" and even appearance. As far as the white painting of the rocks and telephone poles in Guatemala, I can only assume that it is for visibility purposes. By painting things white, it allows for better visibility to motorists at night, keeping them from "smacking" into them.. Hope this answers your question...

...$Billy Ray$

How to Paint Trees *preview*