In the fall, gardeners, summer residents begin to whitewash fruit trees. Moreover, few people delve into why this procedure is needed, which trees can be whitened, and which cannot. Whitewashing trees for the winter has become a tradition. When to whiten trees in the garden in autumn? Do I need to whiten trees for the winter? How do trees fall in the fall? Under a bold hand of a summer resident everything falls in a row. Experienced gardeners know that sunlight reflected from melted snow is especially dangerous for tree bark in spring. Most of all fruit trees get burns for this reason. In winter, the same thing happens during thaws.
How to prepare a tree for whitewashing
Gardeners know that the most vulnerable part of a fruit tree is the stem, because it can freeze or it can be bitten by rodents (hares, mice). He may get burned in spring or frostbite on sunny, frosty days in winter.
That is, that would not apply - pruning, spraying from pests, top dressing, the stem needs special protection. It is desirable that the bole is clean, healthy. And in order for the bark to rejuvenate, it must be covered in autumn with a multifunctional protective layer. That is, the coating that we will apply would protect the booth from hares, mice, from spring sunburns and winter frosts, from pests.
Before applying whitewash, any tree needs pre-treatment. Old bark from fruit tree trunks needs to be cleaned regularly. That is, it is desirable that the trunk to a smooth bark be clean.
It is convenient to do this with the help of an old garden hacksaw.
Do not be afraid to damage the bark - sweep the jagged side of the hacksaw blade along the lignified part of the tree trunk from top to bottom.
At what temperature do you whiten trees in autumn? The answer is clear: at positive air temperature. I think that it is most comfortable for any gardener to do whitewashing at a temperature not lower than + 10 ° C.
Whitewashing is the application of a thin layer of lime that protects the trunks, large skeletal branches from direct and reflected sunlight. It will also protect the garden from pests that climb into the crown of trees along the trunk.
When is it better to whiten trees in autumn or spring? The answer will be this: you need to whiten in the fall and early spring. Very often, by spring, the whitewashing caused in the fall is washed off by the rains during the winter, turns pale, weakens after snowfalls and strong winds. As you know, in early spring the sun is most bright compared to cloudy winter days. And if you do not update the winter whitewash, then exposure to sunlight can be detrimental to the tree. It is in early spring, when the snow has not yet melted, on the dark bark of the tree that is unprotected from the sun, frost holes and cracks form. To avoid this, do not forget to refresh the whitewash of trees in the garden in spring.
Do young seedlings need to be whitened in the fall?
Whitewashing is not recommended for young trees, as a layer of lime inhibits the normal development of trunks, their expansion. The result is an effect of too thin trunks.
But this does not mean that the trunks of young trees do not need protection from the sun, frost, pests. For young trees, a more effective way of protection is suitable - not whitewashing with lime, but smearing with clay. To evaluate the advantages or disadvantages of whitewashing or smearing is possible only in comparison.
To whitewash does not restrain the growth of young trunks, clay coating is used instead. It does not have a depressing effect on the seedlings. Applicable from the first winter. Especially in recent years, people are increasingly buying good varieties from nurseries - it’s a shame to harm their normal development with ordinary whitewash.
Another advantage of clay over lime is protection against winter freezing. Clay coating will fully replace whitewash with lime, protect it from frost. Whitewashing from frost potholes will not help.
A clay coating will protect the garden from the flower beetle, which leaves the soil in late March or early April and lays eggs in buds that have not yet opened. And the clay-smeared kidneys are inaccessible to the pest of the flower beetle.
Clay coating is an excellent protection against adverse factors for young seedlings and colonial trees. To do this, you only need a stepladder. It would be nice to take care of the trees before the frost, that is, apply the coat until December. But it is also useful to carry it out in February-early April - during the thaw days.
Clay from the depth (subsoil) is suitable for plastering, but if the soil is loamy, then garden soil can be taken. For those who do not want to prepare the coating themselves, there are special clay-based pastes on sale.
How it's done? You can with a wide brush, or you can just hand. After collecting clay into a fist, we apply the coating from the bottom up, so as not to damage the kidneys. It is advisable to coat the trunk and branches 2-3 times, waiting for each layer to dry.
In the spring, the buds will easily open - a thin layer of clay is not an obstacle to this.
What else can you protect garden trees for the winter
To protect trees and bushes instead of whitewashing, you can use covering materials that wrap trunks, thick shoots of raspberries. Cut white agrofibre into strips, for example, spunbond, lutrasil, spiral tree trunks, thick raspberry shoots. Agrofibre will protect trees from rodents (mice, hares), sunburn, frost holes.
It makes sense to treat with 3% Bordeaux liquid (flushing) of fruit trees after the end of leaf fall. Thanks to this treatment, the crown acquires a more active reflective ability, which in turn reduces the heating of the bark of the stem and the skeletal branches of the tree with minimal parameters of frost holes after frosty days. If air temperature allows, the treatment is repeated in the middle of winter, as precipitation rinses off the protective coating.
Hunting pest protection belts
Along with the processing of the stambes of trees and skeletal branches, it is important to equip the plants with fishing “belts” in several tiers with intervals between them 30-40 cm. It is important not to wind up very tightly to ensure that pests can freely hide between the layers of the “belt”.
With the onset of thaws with high values of positive temperatures in the daytime, pests actively move from the surface layer of soil and shelters along the trunk to the crown, where they often find refuge in the form of cracks, faults. In this case, the hunting "belts" intercept the most active part of the pests. Later, in early spring, hunting "belts" are carefully removed and burned together with the existing stock of pests.
Gardeners should quickly use winter days with rainfall in the form of snow. It is necessary to try to collect the snow that has fallen as much as possible around the tree stumps and in the pit zone, and compact it tightly. This will allow for a long time to keep the root system in a cooled state, reducing its activity, without provoking sap flow.