Lime suspension for whitewashing trees
Brand: Seklos
Packaged:1,565 kg (1L)
Availability:9
6.16€
Ex Tax: 5.05€
Lime for whitewashing trees (suspension).
Whitewash for fruit trees based on lime and iron sulfate.
Designed to protect against sunburn, partly from pests and diseases, as well as to prevent the appearance of mosses and lichens.
The composition of the whitewash: slaked lime, clay, plasticizer and iron sulfate.
An unused solution can be used in subsequent years, by keeping it in an airtight container.
Attention: the presence of lime can irritate the skin, so wear water-repellent gloves. If the solution does get on the skin, then rinse the area with plenty of water.

* Diseases of the bark mainly begin with spring sunburn. They usually appear as pinkish spots on the bark. To avoid this, it is necessary to whitewash the trunks, not in spring, but in autumn, so that they are protected from the bright March sun reflected by snow. If the whitewash has gone by spring, correct it as soon as possible, at an air temperature of at least +6 °C.
Instead of whitewashing, you can tie the trunks with sheets of ripped sugar bags, since they are made of fibreglass and mice are too tough.

Conditionally sufficient is the whitewashing of the tree according to the formula: the entire bole + 1/3 of the length of the lower skeletal branches. For adult trees (again, the average effective) whitewash height is considered to be 1.5-1.8 m, and experienced gardeners generally try to whiten their pets as high as possible - up to 2 meters or more.
It is not uncommon for garden plots, where fruit trees flaunt in white lime attire to the very tops. It turns out (almost like in sports) - the winner is the one who has the whitewash "Higher, Stronger and Whiter!"

6 whitewashing rules.
Regardless of what you choose - lime or water-soluble paint (water-based, acrylic), the general rules for whitewashing must be observed in any case:
1. Trees can be whitewashed only in dry weather.
2. The air temperature should not be lower than -5 °C (otherwise, it is likely that the whitewash will lie on top of the ice, and then simply drain along with it during the thaw).
3. It is necessary to paint and whiten not only trunks, as many do, but also skeletal branches since they are also subject to burns and frost holes.
4. Whitewashing should be carried out in autumn or winter (until mid-January). Sunburns and frost cracks appear, as a rule, in February - March, so you need to be in time before this time. Spring whitewashing does not carry a protective function - it is intended solely for aesthetic purposes.
5. Young seedlings of the current year cannot be bleached: premature shoots will slow down their future development. You can whiten them only from the second, and even better from the third year of life in the garden.
6. Before whitewashing, the trunk and branches must be cleaned of old and lagging bark (which is better to burn), mosses and lichens. And cover all wounds with garden pitch.

* Alternative method of whitewashing.
European gardeners very often use not lime or paint, but a mixture of clay and cow dung with the addition of ash.
This is a very reasonable solution since the clay perfectly protects the trunks from the sun, frost and strong winds, but at the same time does not clog the pores on the bark, allowing the plant to fully breathe, and the mullein glues the clay and prevents it from falling off (besides, it contains nutrients and bioactive elements You can add a little lime and iron sulfate to this mixture, which will be a good prevention against diseases. This whitewash has an unusual yellowish-light-green hue and looks very aesthetically pleasing on the trunks.

"To bleach or not to bleach - that is the question."
This is the very rare case when there is an unequivocal answer to the question: it is necessary to whiten, and in the near future!
It is surprising that many gardeners consider tree whitewashing a purely decorative act and treat it accordingly, when in fact it is extremely important in the life of a plant.
Should trees be bleached?
To understand the meaning of whitewashing, it is necessary first of all to say a few words about the tree bark itself.
The bark for a tree is like skin for a person: it protects internal organs and is the first to meet adverse environmental conditions, which are many: sharp temperature fluctuations, biting wind, sunshine and severe frosts, rodent teeth, parasitism of pests...
The bark gets sunburned and frostbitten, rough and cracked, sore and flaky (anyone will notice the difference between the smooth skin of a young seedling and the rough, cracked bark of an old tree). Everyone knows what skin injuries lead to, too - to a disease: infections and pests penetrate the body, weakening its immune system, leading to premature withering and death.
That is why the bark of the tree must be protected with ordinary whitewash, which:
* protects the tree bark from winter and early spring burns, when there is no natural protection in the form of foliage yet;
* protects against temperature extremes, which means it prevents cracking of the bark (appearance of frost cracks);
* Helps protect against insect pests whose larvae like to settle in the bark.
Many years of experience of gardeners clearly shows that this is an effective and low-cost protective measure for the bark of your favourite pets.
It is necessary to whitewash both mature trees and young ones, although a considerable number of gardeners are staunch adherents of the opinion that young trees cannot be whitewashed, since lime can burn the tender bark and prevent its growth. Is it so?
Without a doubt, a high concentration of lime will damage the young bark, but this can be avoided: you need to reduce the lime content in the prepared solution by 2 times or use a special water-based or acrylic paint for trees.
For example, take a look at the seedlings that were grown in the nursery. Most often they live there in cramped conditions and do not receive light hardening. And when we plant such a tree in our garden, it falls into open space and easily gets sunburn of the bark. Therefore, whitewashing is simply necessary for young trees, especially during autumn planting.
When to bleach?
Experienced gardeners recommend whitewashing trees in the garden twice or even three times a year:
* the first main whitewash is in autumn (held in October-November);
* spring - repeated, renewing (at the end of February-beginning of March);
* the third will be appropriate in the middle of summer.
The most effective whitewashing is carried out in the fall (October-November).
The whitewashing done during spring gardening is usually already "late".
The most dangerous for a tree is the sunny days of February and frosty March: under the February sun, the dark trunk heats up to + 9 + 11 ° C during the day - this temperature is enough for the tree to wake up and sap flow to begin. As a result, night frosts down to -10 ºC simply freeze the "tightened" juice, which causes tissue ruptures - the very frost cracks that look like long cracks on the bark. The white colour repels the sun's rays and does not allow the trunk to warm up to the awakening temperature (moreover, the whitewashed tree will "wake up" a little later in the spring, which will save it from spring frosts, since it will begin to bloom after them).
How to whitewash trees and what should be the height of the whitewash?
It is necessary to whitewash the entire bole, i.e. the trunk from the root neck to the first skeletal branch of the lower tier + lower skeletal branches by 1/3 of their length (many even by 1/2 of the length of the branches).
Ideally, it would be nice to wrap the whole tree in such a light-repellent shell, but this would be too time-consuming (although such examples are often found).
How to whitewash the trees in the garden?
Trees are whitewashed with a wide variety of mixtures: lime mortar, water-based and water-dispersion paint. The main thing is that the surface of the trunk is white so that the whitewash composition allows the bark to "breathe" and does not wash off as long as possible. To do this, substances are added to the main mixture that ensures the solution sticks to the trunk (such substances can be: clay, green soap, milk, and casein glue). Work must be done carefully and without gaps, so then your dear pets will not have to suffer either in a frosty night or in a sunny spring from long painful frost holes.
Summary: treating whitewashing trees as a purely decorative event is a big mistake.

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