Lime tree paint

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escambiaguy Atmore, AL(Zone 8b) Aug 30, 2006

It is common practice of old timers to mix lime and water and make a paste that is painted onto tree trunks. It is believed that it repels insects. Lots of pecan orchards have been done this way. Does it have any benefit, or is it a waste of time?

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vossner East Texas, United States(Zone 8a) Aug 31, 2006

I know TX A&M Univ was doing some painting on an experimental basis, I don't think results were conclusive. Labor intensive for sure.

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StarhillForest Illinois, IL(Zone 5b) Aug 31, 2006

It makes them easier for drunk drivers to see at night, it gives convicts something to do (you see that done a lot at prisons), and occasionally it is used (successfully? I don't know) to protect trunks of newly planted trees from sunscald. Usually it's just whitewash tho.

Guy S.

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escambiaguy Atmore, AL(Zone 8b) Aug 31, 2006

You're exactly right Guy. The local prison here has them done that way on the property. I guess it does give them something to do. LOL

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Aug 31, 2006

Very commonly done on roadside trees in Asia (seen it in Turkey, seen photos of it in China, India, etc) and at least northern Africa (Morocco). In Morocco the utility poles were also similarly painted. They mostly don't have good streetlighting (if any), so it is an obvious safety measure.

Resin

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Lucky_P Hopkinsville, KY(Zone 6b) Aug 31, 2006

The lime slurry has largely been supplanted - at least in the orchard industry - by cheap white latex paint, cut 50/50 with water. Trunks are painted to diminish 'southwest injury' resulting when the winter sun warms the trunks on the SW side, causing repeated thawing/freezing cycles which damage the bark.
I've recently seen one reference indicating that painting trunks of young trees white, up to 4 or 5 ft will reduce damage done by rutting buck deer rubbing their antlers on the young trees - supposedly interferes, to some degree, with their depth perception - or, perhaps just with their overall perception of what a tree trunk is supposed to look like. I'm gonna try it this fall on some of the pecan/walnut/oak seedlings in my riparian bufferstrip. Hope to have a report on its effectiveness or ineffectiveness next spring.

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escambiaguy Atmore, AL(Zone 8b) Aug 31, 2006

Well, the "old guys" at the local feed store seem to think that it keeps bugs away. I'm not gonna tell them otherwise.

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UUallace Cincinnati, OH Aug 31, 2006

Wouldn't lime painting of Citrus aurantifolia be redundant?

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