Spring whitewashing of trees in the garden. How to whiten trees in the garden correctly in autumn When to whiten tree trunks

Proper care for fruit trees is the key to their health, longevity, abundant and high-quality harvest. Our website has already posted an article on how to whitewash trees in the fall, where we substantiated the need for this procedure. Autumn whitewashing of garden trees is a very important item in the list of garden care activities, but whitewashing trees and shrubs in the spring is no less important.

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Why whitewash trees

If autumn whitewashing is carried out in order to prevent the formation of cracks and frost holes in the bark of trees and shrubs in winter and to destroy pathogenic microorganisms and pests that have gathered to overwinter in the bark, then whitewashing of trees in the spring is carried out to protect their trunks and skeletal branches from burns, since at this time the sun is very active, and the plants do not yet have foliage that could protect the bark from overheating.

In addition, whitewashing in spring is preventive measure from pathogens and pests that still managed to survive the winter in cracks in the bark and top layer soil.

That is why trees are whitened at least twice a year - in autumn and spring.

When to whitewash trees

When to whiten trees in the fall

The most important is considered to be the autumn whitewashing of apple, cherry, plum and pear trees - without this procedure, fruit bearings can not only lose their decorative value, but also die, since sudden temperature changes in the autumn-winter period can lead to severe damage bark. Fruit trees need to be whitened in October or November, just before the onset of frost. If the process will be successful, your garden will be protected from frost, the formation of ice on the trunks and from hungry hares eating the bark.

When to whiten trees in spring

Spring whitewashing is carried out in February or early March: at this time, tree trunks can heat up to 11 ºC during the day, and this provokes the start of sap flow too early. And night temperatures at the end of winter and beginning of spring can drop to -10 ºC, and this leads to freezing of the sap, rupture of tissues and the formation of frost holes. White paint on trunks and skeletal branches repels the sun's rays, protects the bark from overheating and prevents trees from waking up at the wrong time.

How to whiten trees in spring

Preparations for whitewashing trees

Garden whitewash can be produced in three compositions: lime mortar, water-based or water-dispersion paint. The composition of whitewash for trees must include three components:

• white pigment – ​​chalk or lime, since it is the white color that best protects the bark from the rays of the sun;
• an adhesive base that secures the pigment to the bark, preventing the composition from flowing down the trunk;
• a fungicidal drug that destroys infection in bark cracks.

In the photo: Whitened apple trees

The easiest way to protect trees – lime or chalk mortar, which gardeners have been using for a long time. There are several recipes in which the ingredients differ, but in any case the base remains chalk or lime. For example:

• in 10 liters of water you need to dilute about three kilograms of slaked lime or chalk, add 500 g copper sulfate and 100 g of casein glue, which can be replaced with a few spoons of flour paste. The composition is thoroughly mixed until all the ingredients are dissolved, then the whitewash should sit for several hours;
• thoroughly mix 2 kg of slaked lime, a kilogram of fatty clay, a shovel of manure and 250 g of copper sulfate in 10 liters of water and leave to brew for 2-3 hours;
• in two liters of water, stir 300 g of fluff lime, 2 tablespoons of copper sulfate, 200 g of office glue, 200 g of clay and 25 g of Karbofos;
• 400 g of copper sulfate must be dissolved in 2 liters hot water and mix with 100 g of casein glue, 2 kg of slaked lime and dilute the composition with 8 liters of water.

Whitewashing with lime has the disadvantage that its coating quickly washes off or crumbles. That is why, after whitewashing trees with lime or chalk in the fall, you will have to whitewash them again in the spring. If you use water-based or water-dispersion paints, then one whitewash a year, or even two, will be enough.

The main advantage of water-based paint is its durability: it forms on the surface of the trunk a durable, but vapor-permeable, breathable coating that is resistant to washing off and sunlight.

In the photo: Whitewashed trees in the park

The composition of water-dispersion paint, in addition to pigment, includes latex and antiseptic. The paint forms a breathable coating on tree trunks, but does not allow ultraviolet rays, which can cause great harm to trees in the spring. Water-dispersion coating stays on the trunks for up to two years, which greatly facilitates the work of the gardener. Painting of trees with a water-dispersion composition is carried out at an air temperature of at least 3 ºC.

How to prune trees in spring - tested from personal experience

Both water-based and water-dispersion paints are sold in garden pavilions. But you can also prepare durable paint yourself by mixing two parts bustylate or PVA glue, one part pigment (chalk or kaolin) and adding a fungicidal preparation to the mixture.

How to dilute whitewash? After you have mixed all the ingredients well, add water to the mixture in small portions, continuing to mix the composition so that the resulting consistency is as thick as oil paint.

Whitewashing tools

Most often, sponge brushes are used to whitewash trees, but this is not the most handy tool. Easier and more convenient to use the flywheel paint brush from artificial material, as well as a flute brush, or a brush, which allows one movement to cover a significant area of ​​​​the surface of the bark, both smooth and fissured. If there are few trees in your garden, then you can quickly handle it with a brush or a paint roller, but if the garden is large and the trees are tall, then it is better to use a spray gun to whitewash them.

How to whiten trees in spring

If for some reason you did not whitewash the trees for the winter, then in the spring you will need to not only coat them with the composition, but also apply it before whitewashing preliminary preparation trunks and skeletal branches of your fruit trees. You need to clear them of old dead bark: spread oilcloth or fabric under the tree and remove loose pieces and pieces of bark with a wooden (but in no case metal!) scraper. The entire trunk and the lower third of the skeletal branches need to be processed. It is better to do this on a damp, cloudy day. Wear your old ones for work. leather gloves, and be sure to burn the bark fragments that have fallen onto the litter.

In the photo: Whitewashing a fruit tree

The peeled bark should be disinfected: on a dry and clear warm day, treat the trunk and the base of the skeletal branches with a five percent solution of copper sulfate or the preparations Abiga-pik, HOM or Oxyx. Spraying is carried out from a fine sprayer at a close distance so that the moisture forms a mist that slowly settles on the bark, rather than flowing over it in streams.

Please note that this manipulation should be carried out in the morning, so that by the evening the bark has time to dry.

In addition, it is not advisable to carry out disinfection with copper-containing preparations every year, since the metal tends to accumulate in the bark, and eventually its concentration will become toxic to the tree. To prevent this from happening, you need to alternate treatment with fungicides with spraying the bark with a soap-ash solution, which is not so harmful to the tree, but at the same time perfectly cleans the bark. To prepare the solution you need 2.5-3 kg of ash and 50 g liquid soap or dishwashing detergent diluted in water at a temperature of about 80 ºC.

The wounds and cracks formed during the cleaning of the bark must be repaired with one of the following compounds:

• 200 g of clay is mixed with 100 g of mullein, a handful of finely chopped straw and diluted with water to the consistency of thick sour cream;
• 100 g rosin and 200 g beeswax dissolve over low heat separately, then combine, add 100 g of unsalted animal fat, and when everything melts, pour this mass into cold water, take it out of it and roll it into a ball. Before covering wounds and cracks, this garden varnish is slightly heated to make it elastic.

To seal injuries, you can use RanNet garden paste, which contains copper sulfate and humate. The procedure is carried out in dry weather, since the composition is not moisture resistant.

Fruit trees in the garden are whitewashed usually in the fall. Whitewashing protects the trunk from frost damage and rodents. Whitewash They recommend trees over 3 years old, while younger ones are simply covered various materials(see article) But some gardeners process lime trees also in the spring. For what? And indeed is it necessary do this?

*Note: The photo shows trees before and after treatment with “Garden Whitewash” based on chalk. We open the dacha season at the beginning of May, but it is better to start whitening the trees earlier - back in April, when the sun is already starting to heat the dark bark of the trees.

Why whiten trees in spring?

At the end of winter - beginning of spring, the sun is already shining brightly and starting to warm up. The dark bark easily heats up, and cambium cells “awaken” under it. Under the influence low temperatures At night, the bark cools down, and the vital processes of the cells stop. From a sharp temperature change, the cambium can die or, at best, be damaged. As a result, the bark of the fruit tree bursts or peels off.

Whitewashing helps to avoid the “solarium” effect for fruit trees. Whitening trees in spring is beneficial, because this prevents heating of the bark and the occurrence sunburn.

So, in the fall it is recommended to whitewash the trees thoroughly, and in the spring to renew the whitewash. You can begin whitewashing trees in the spring as soon as the snow around the trunks melts. Treat tree trunks and bottom part skeletal branches.

You need to bleach cherries, cherries, plums, and apple trees.

Our experience

It just so happened that, hastily finishing the summer season, we don’t have time to whitewash the trees in the fall. And so, year after year, we paint our apple, plum and cherry trees in the spring. Trees survive this one-time treatment well. The winter passes without incident. The garden does not suffer from frost or rodent infestation.

With the opening of the dacha season in May, I begin whitewashing the trees (but you can start earlier - in April). For some reason, this particular responsibility was assigned to me. For whitewashing we use ready-made “Garden Whitewash”. We buy several bags at once (9-10 pieces) and dilute them in water. We have a lot of trees, so we have to prepare the solution several times.

We tried adding a solution of copper sulfate for diseases and green soap for pests to garden whitewash. I liked it

This is what it looks like ready solution for whitewashing with chalk (calcium carbonate) containing:

It is convenient to use a thick or wide brush, paint roller or paint sprayer.

You can cook something like this composition for whitening:

• Mix 500 g of copper sulfate, 3 kg of quicklime, 200 g of casein glue in 10 liters of water.

Stores also sell ready-made whitewash, for example, “Gardener.” There is also paint designed specifically for treating trees. It has a latex base, so it lasts longer than regular lime.

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Why do you need whitewashing?

Whiten apple trees and other fruit trees with the beginning or end of the agricultural season has become a tradition for many gardeners. But at the same time, no less number of summer residents are not sure of the need for such an event.

Essentially, tree whitening has two functions:

• decorative,
• practical.

Regarding the first point, one cannot but agree that whitewashed trees look elegant and even festive. But the practical role of whitewashing is to protect the garden from rodents, pests and microbes, as well as adverse impact external environment :

1. Whitewashing has about anti-infecting properties, which do not allow bacteria, fungi and insects to settle in cracks in bark damaged by winds, precipitation and temperature changes. It disinfects and heals wounds of trunks.
2. White protects the trunk from sunburn, as it reflects the sun's rays. This is very important at a time when the trees have not yet covered with leaves, but the sun is already quite strong.
3. Whitewash mixture with strong aromatic components prevents damage to the bark by rodents that attack the garden in the spring.
4. In addition, whitewashing carried out before winter prevents icing of the trunks, which is very dangerous for heat-loving trees.

Processing time

Apple trees, pear trees and other garden trees are usually whitened twice a year:

• in the fall, when the trees have already shed their leaves;
• in the spring, when the buds appear.

Autumn whitewashing – this is the main job, which takes place at the end of the season. It saves fruit trees from damage during winter temperature changes and icing, and the bright spring sun. In addition, whitewashing in the fall kills ticks, leaf rollers, codling moths, aphids and other pests that have settled under the bark for the winter, and reduces the number of harmful microorganisms and bacteria that can damage trees. Whitewashing apple trees in the fall, as well as other fruit-bearing plantings, prevents spring damage to the trunks, when rodents wake up, and insects and other food lovers come to the surface tree bark and sap. As a result healthy tree grows safely and bears fruit.

When to whiten trees in the fall, you should look at the weather. Best time for this – the end of October-beginning of November (depending on natural area): the leaves have already fallen, the rains have passed, the snow has not yet fallen, and you can choose a suitable day– cloudy (but dry, not rainy), with a temperature of 2-5 ⁰С (that is, above zero temperature).

Whitewash garden trees in the fall it requires compliance with the painting conditions, otherwise all your work may go down the drain:

• too early whitewashing may be washed away by continuing rains;
• In case of sudden frosts, you may not have time to whiten the trees.

It is also necessary to monitor the concentration of lime in the solution so as not to damage the bark.

Spring whitewashing is carried out from the end of February to the beginning of April, before foliage appears and wintered pests emerge. Essentially, in the spring the protective layer applied in the fall is renewed. In summer it is also advisable to renew the paint job. In spring and summer, branches are not pruned, bark is not disinfected, and other preparatory activities , which are mandatory when whitewashing trees in the fall. The same composition can be used for painting in any season.

Composition for whitewashing

There are a lot of compositions for whitewashing fruit-bearing trees; each gardener chooses his own due to personal preferences. The best remedy considered special water-based paint with bactericidal properties. She reliably protects the tree bark and at the same time does not interfere with her breathing. However, this method is not cheap, especially if you need to whiten large number trunks. The fact is that trees are whitened with a depth of several centimeters (about 3–4) into the ground and up to the skeletal branches. Another disadvantage of this paint is its thick consistency, which makes the paint difficult to apply and whitewashing takes a lot of effort and time.

But there are also solutions that you can make yourself. They are time-tested and in general are almost as good as industrially produced paint.

• lime,
• wood glue (or PVA),
• copper sulfate,
• water.

Lime gives the solution the desired white color, glue fixes the composition, preventing it from being washed off the trunk ahead of time, vitriol has disinfecting properties. For 2.5 kg of lime you need 10 liters of water and 0.5 kg of vitriol. The components are mixed and infused for several hours until completely dissolved.

There are other compositions, which usually include, except lime, chalk, clay, manure (mullein), milk. However experienced gardeners Clay and mullein are not recommended, since solutions based on them are washed off very quickly, before spring.

Tree preparation

Before whitewashing fruit trees in the fall, it is necessary to carry out a number of preparatory work:

After that you can start directly to whitewashing trees. The composition is applied with a roller, spray or brush. Whitewashing should be done deep into the ground and to a height of at least 1.6–1.7 m from the soil.

Many are wary of whitewashing seedlings and fresh plantings. They are partly right, because their thin bark is very vulnerable. But it is also very dangerous from frost, overheating and pests, so it is still worth whitewashing such plantings. You need to find a middle ground - for example, reduce the amount of lime in the solution or resort to special garden paint for trees. For plantings older than five years, the solution should be applied in two layers - from the ground to the skeletal branches.

Even if you doubt the need to whitewash your garden plantings twice a year, it’s still worth carrying out. Do not neglect plant protection before winter and at the beginning gardening work. In addition, autumn whitewashing of garden trees is good opportunity inspect your garden before the end of the season, put it in order and make sure that next year your apple trees, plums, pears and other fruit-bearing trees will delight you with beauty and harvest.

Whitewashed trees in our country have long become a symbol of spring cleanup days held everywhere. Traditionally, after all joint cleaning work, buckets of lime are taken out. The snow-white trunks of trees, and at the same time the pillars that came into view, are like a sign: the mission of the labor landing has been completed. It is not surprising that many consider whitewashing trees to be a purely decorative act and treat it accordingly. But in fact, it is extremely important in the life of a tree.

Do you need to whitewash trees?

To understand the meaning of whitewashing, you need to say a few wordsabout tree bark, which, in fact, is whitened. Bark for a tree is like skin for a person: protecting internal organs, she is the first to encounter all unfavorable environmental conditions.

And there are many of them: sharp temperature fluctuations, biting winds, hot sun and severe frosts, the teeth of rodents, the action of pests, and even people themselves with their habit of lighting a fire under a tree and carving their immortal name or the message “Vasya + Katya = love” on the bark. The bark gets sunburned and frostbite, becomes rough and cracks, hurts and peels off. Who among us has not seen the difference between the smooth skin of a young seedling and the rough, cracked bark of an old one? And everyone also knows what a skin injury leads to: illness: infections and pests penetrate the body, weaken it, and lead to premature withering and death.

That's why tree bark must be protected.

This is what whitewashing is for, it:

protects tree bark from burns- winter and early spring, when foliage, which serves as protection from the sun, natural reasons simply not;

• protects from temperature changes, which means it prevents cracking of the bark (the appearance of frost holes);
• helps protect from insect pests, the larvae of which settle in the bark.

So treating whitewashing trees as a purely decorative event is a mistake. Many years of experience gardeners clearly demonstrate: this is an effective protective measure for the bark.



Whitewashing is necessaryboth mature trees and young ones. Many gardeners are convinced that young trees cannot be whitewashed, because whitewashing can burn the delicate bark. In addition, by squeezing the trunk, it prevents its growth (thickening). Is this true?

The problem, as always, has two sides. Without a doubthigh concentration of lime will damage young bark, but this can be avoided. Reduce the lime content by half, use water-based or acrylic paint or, ultimately, a silver biomask. But if you don’t bleach at all, then sunburn and frost damage will cause young tree harm immeasurably greater than possible harm from lime.

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 training. And when we plant such a tree in our garden, it ends up in open space and easily gets sunburn on the bark. That's whyyoung trees simply need whitewashing, especially during autumn planting.

When to whiten

• the main whitewash is considered autumn, it is held in October-November;
• spring- repeated, updating; it is held in late February-early March;
• the third would be appropriate midsummer.

The most effective whitewashing is carried out in the fall, in October-November. Work done during spring gardening is, as a rule, already “late.”

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The most dangerous thing for a tree issunny days February and frosty March. Unbleached during the day dark trunk under the February sun it heats up to +9...+11ºС - this temperature is enough for the tree to wake up and sap flow to begin. And night frosts down to -10ºС simply freeze the “pulled” juice. As a result, tissue ruptures occur - frost holes, which look like long cracks in the bark.

The white color repels the sun's rays and does not allow the trunk to heat up to the awakening temperature. Moreover, the whitewashed tree will “wake up” a little later in the spring, which, quite possibly, will protect it from spring frosts- it will begin to bloom after them.

If it was not possible to carry out autumn whitewashing, in February you need to catch up as soon as the temperature allows. You shouldn’t wait for the traditional April “Lenin cleanup” - then this procedure will truly become purely decorative. And if the autumn whitewashing went according to plan, the springthe update can be done in both February and March, or even in early April - when there is time for this.

A third whitewash is not necessary, especially if the trees are whitewashed with persistent compounds that last well for up to a year. But it is desirable if the whitewash layer has been washed away by rain or peeled off.

How to whitewash trees

To the most common question -to what height to whiten- experienced gardeners answer:

• fully the whole standard(this is the trunk from the root collar to the first skeletal branch of the lower tier)
• plus lower skeletal branches by 1/3 of their length (many even whiten 1/2 of the length of the branches).

And this is to make you smile. It’s clear that this “mix” coloring won’t really protect you from sunburn... But it looks positive)



It’s autumn now, and the time has come for the traditional doubt: “To whiten or not to whiten—that is the question.” And this is a rare case when there is a clear answer to the question: whitewashing is a must! And right in the near future. Then, on a wonderful sunny February day, you will mentally praise yourself for the fact that your pets will not have to suffer from long, painful frost blasts on a frosty night.