There are agrotechnical practices, without which many years of work of a gardener can go down the drain. These include caring for the tree bark when the crop is already harvested and it is time to prepare for winter. After the trunks and branches are manually cleaned, the bark is disinfected and all wounds on it are sealed, the whitewashing of fruit trees begins in the fall. It is in this order that whitewashing is not started until the three previous steps have been completed. Why it makes sense - read below.
Three whitewashes are held during the year, two of which - the main autumn (October-November), and the spring, repeated (end of February - beginning of March) - are mandatory. The third whitewashing of fruit trees is carried out in the middle of summer; it is not necessary, but desirable.
In autumn, you need to calculate so that you have time to whiten the trees before the day when the daytime temperature drops below zero. Whitewashing day should be dry and warm. On every treethe trunk, lower skeletal branches (from a third to half of their length) and forks are processed. The main purpose of whitewashing follows from the color of the solution with which the tree trunk is covered: the whiter, the better. This is the protection of the tree from sunburn and frost holes caused by temperature changes. Moreover, this protection is needed for both adult plants and young seedlings, especially if they are planted in the fall. Indeed, in the nursery where they were grown, you will not get proper light hardening. Hence the high risk of bark sunburn in the open space of the garden.
It's amazing that there are still people for whom autumn whitewashing of fruit trees and whitewashing the walls of the house are almost the same thing. But this is far from true. At the gardener, the solution should be homogeneous, thick, similar to cream or sour cream. But it cannot be applied to the trunk in a thick layer, otherwise, instead of protecting the tree, its he alth can be worsened. For young seedlings, the concentration of lime in the solution should be half as much so as not to burn them. At the same time, it must be sufficiently water-resistant, resistant to flaking and shedding from the trunk, and not flow from it in streams. Otherwise, you will definitely have to whitewash the marriage.
Whitewashing of fruit trees in the fall can be carried out both with a purchased solution and with a self-prepared solution. Alternatively, you can use snow-white acrylic paint. If the gardener is used to preparing mortar with his own hands every time, here is a good recipe. For 10 liters of water, slaked lime (2-2.5 kg), copper sulfate (250-300 g), fattyclay (1 kg). Optionally, you can add one or two shovels of cow dung. Everything is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
Whitewashing fruit trees in autumn has a mechanical effect on the bark of a tree, which is the stronger, the more bumpy and rough the bark. That is why this stage of preparing the garden for winter is carried out after the previous three. Smooth bark is easier to whiten, and whitewash consumption will decrease, and work time will be reduced. Otherwise, the unprepared bark will delaminate, crack and fall behind the wood, the tree will become vulnerable to sunlight, sub-zero temperatures, pests and diseases. After the whitewashing of fruit trees is completed in autumn and the gardener meticulously checked the quality of his work, he can go on vacation. The garden is protected, overwinter safely and next year will meet spring in all its unique blooming glory.
