Years ago, I remember that all the old-timers would white-wash the trunks of their fig trees.  What's up with that, and why don't I see this done anymore....at least in NYC? 

If it is a "good" practice where do I find/buy genuine, old-timey, Tom Sawyer-type, "white-wash"?  I don't want to use diluted latex paint....I want the real McCoy.  Better yet...do I need to white-wash my trees?

I don't think I have ever seen any photos of the trees posted on this forum with white-washed trunks.  I don't even know why the trunks were painted with white-wash.  Was it to reflect heat, cold, keep out bugs?  After a little research I read that "white-wash" has to be made from specific ingredients. 

If I need it, I'll do it, but if I don't, then I won't.


Just asking.....


Frank

Others will know more about this but I believe the idea of painting the trunks of fruit trees white has to do with problems that can occur if there is direct sun on the trunk in winter (especially during warmer periods).  Under certain circumstances the sun can warm the bark to the point where it splits.

Oh, I just found this link which also mentions protection against critters:
http://fruitgrowersnews.com/index.php/magazine/article/painting-tree-trunks-protects-against-rodents-borers

Down here in Arizona its common for people to paint the trunks of citrus trees to protect exposed wood from the sun. Garden centers sell special paint for it, or you can make your own by diluting white latex paint 50 / 50 with water. Certain trees, like citrus, can be damaged by strong direct sun on the bark. Once bark gets damaged in that way it becomes an easier target for pests and disease.

Fig trees don't need to be painted. Although if a fig tree has bark that has already been damaged painting it may provide some additional protection and prevent future problems. I wouldn't paint any wood that hasn't scabbed over yet on its own.

Frank some replies from when you posted this on GW forum 2 years back.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg0323444213273.html

Latex paint diluted @50% i read can be used.
Whitewash help prevent sun scalding which leaves trunk susceptible to inscects like the borer.

Lime is mixed with something i read in past as opposed to diluted latex but dont recall the recipe.
I have not whitewashed our fig plants and there fine but have no farm here in yard.

Thanks for the quick answer.  I had a suspicion that white-washing had something to do with reflecting the sun's heat, or keeping the bugs off, or, from chewing into the tree trunks, etc.

I wonder if "white-wash" is still being sold?


Frank

Frank out here i have not seen it but it may be in other warmer farm belts of the country
where citrus is dominant i have no idea though.

PS - i can send you some snow and cold though.

Martin....

Thank you for remembering what I no longer can remember. My mind is shot!   How embarrassing, and also, thanks for the link....to MY own questions. 

I was always annoyed by people who would constantly ask the same questions over and over again, and somehow I became one of them.  I have arrived.  I'm am officially a "geezer".  What a revolting development this is!

I propose a new section on this forum, called: "I CAN'T REMEMBER IF I ALREADY ASKED THIS"....for seniors only.


Frank

In areas with a tendency for late spring frosts,
whitewashing is used as a way to delay bud break in the trees,
to help prevent frost damage from these events.

Thanks all, for the answers and patience with my redundant questions.


@MARTIN-(post #6)  ....Keep the snow and cold....send some meatballs instead.


F

Looks nice.

Frank being forgetful as you say comes with age but thats fine its the aches and pains .

Frank,
Too Funny!
Well, they say "The Memory is the Second Thing to Go". . . I can't remember the First Thing! Haha!

Good info on the White-Washing; My Grandparents lived outside of Phoenix, Arizona (Del Webb's Sun City West) and I recall seeing all those Citrus Trees in the community white-washed heavily - sometimes growing proudly right in the meridian of the road!
My Grandparent's themselves had 3 Huge, Healthy Citrus Trees in their backyard: Grapefruit, Tangelo, & Tangerine - Yep, their trunks were whitewashed too. Never had the chance (or thought) to ask "Why?"
Now I know, Thanks! :)
Happy Figging,

Classic white wash is made from hydrated lime ( not garden lime) also known as mason's lime. My family's greenhouses business has used it for many years for shading the greenhouses in the late spring.  For fruit trees the lime helps prevent splitting and also acts as an agent that kills bacteria and insect eggs and larvae. Huge caution here though, the solution is high caustic and will take skin off.

•  hydrated lime (about 12 cups)
• 1 pound  salt (about 4 cups)
• 2 gallons of water

I remember as a kid, my father painting the trunks of many fruit trees. At the time he used no chemical but only copper, sulfur and Hydrated lime that he used to prepare himself. Everything was sprayed but sulfur was also applied as powder and hydrated lime was painted on the trunks to prevent borers and also ants from climbing the trees and get to the fruits

Jack's reply coincides with my childhood memories in Switzerland and France. Trees used to be painted every fall. Can't remember the bug but I think I remember there being a influx of some bug that was killing more than just fruit trees. Just about all the trees along roads and in town were painted to keep the bug from travelling up trunks to infect the limbs in summer. Remember seeing rows of Lombardy Poplars painted too.  Possibly a borer of some sort?

It is also used on tender stone fruit such as nectarines, peaches, not always but usually is done on young trees if done at all.

Thanks for the answers and for the few laughs.  Now I know that not just fig trees are white-washed, and why.



Twenty years ago, I used to laugh at that old battle-axe laying on the floor yelling...."I've fallen, and I can't get up"!  Now....not so much.


Frank

By here some people do this to appletrees, cherries... and plumtrees - Trees with thick/strong bark.
It is lime with water painted to the trunks.
Wet lime when drying will produce heat and "that would kill the eggs of the bugs that are on the trunks waiting for the next spring to hatch", legend or not ... who knows ...
It is said that femals of the moths of the plums and cherries find the flowers of those trees because they are white. Painting the trunk would trick them to lay some eggs where they will have no chance to get raised so to say on the trunk itself.
Normally they lay each egg at a flower. When the flower turns into a fruit, the little worm gets in the fruit to develop - you know those ugly worms in the cherries :( ... No good meat :)
As the bark of the figtrees is somehow thinner and much more fragile, I haven't seen this be done to figtrees.

Seriously people!... I don't know what was done in past in US but in Mediterranean the white wash of a trunk is done by Lime washing the trunk to prevent ANT invasions and certain diseases getting the trees. Could this be the case in US too and nowadays generation doesn't know it anymore?