Features of the autumn whitewashing of apple trees

Experienced gardeners recommend caring for apple trees all the time, regardless of the season. Only in this case, your garden will delight you with a rich harvest of the varieties you like. Taking care of apple trees is not difficult, the main thing is to study the necessary recommendations and try to strictly follow them. It is important to observe the timing not only of planting, pruning, grafting and processing of trees, but also the timing of whitewashing. Everyone knows that trees are whitened in spring, but this is not entirely true. One of the important conditions for growing healthy trees is the preliminary whitewashing of apple trees in the fall.

Purpose of autumn whitewashing

It is advisable to whitewash the apple trees twice a year - in autumn and spring. Many gardeners unnecessarily underestimate the role of whitewashing apple trees in the fall. Its main task is to destroy a huge number of insects, spores of fungi and other microorganisms that have chosen the bark as a house for the winter. These can be varieties of aphids, ticks, bark beetles and other pests. It is recommended to whitewash the apple tree in autumn, if there are frequent winter thaws in your area. Autumn whitewashing protects the tree bark from sunburn, which is possible regardless of the air temperature and season. Trees receive such damage not only in summer, but also in early spring, or even in winter. Sometimes this happens in the fall, since at this time of the year, more often than in early spring, the temperature is above zero.

White trunks reflect the sun's rays well, which is important to prevent overheating of trees and cracking of the bark. Whitewashing apple trees in autumn protects the bark from diseases and protects against frost cracks. In winter, large fluctuations in day and night temperatures are also possible, this leads to the fact that the bark cracks, and in the spring these places attract pests and pathogenic bacteria. Such whitewashing is extremely necessary for young seedlings planted in autumn, since mice and hares love to feast on their tender bark in winter. Thus, whitewashing in the fall is done not only for beauty, but also for preventive purposes.

Whitening recipes

Before you start whitening, read the recommendations for preparing whitening compositions. There are different opinions on this matter. Some gardeners recommend whitening apple trees with chalk or slaked lime diluted in water. Others advise adding cow dung, soap, milk, PVA glue, clay, water-based paint and other components to this solution.

There are gardeners who simply prefer water-based paint with the addition of karbofos (1.5 tablespoons per 2 kg of paint). Hares and mice do not tolerate the smell of karbofos, so such whitewashing guarantees the safety of the bark in winter.

Many recommend diluting lime (2-2.5 kg depending on the age of the tree), 250-300 grams of iron or copper sulfate, 1 kg of clay and 1 glass of acrylic paint or 100-150 grams of casein glue in 1 bucket of water. It is recommended to soak copper sulfate in hot water in advance.

If you want to use the cheapest method - whitewashing with slaked lime - you will have to whitewash the barrel twice so that the thickness of the whitewash is sufficient. A clean chalk or lime solution of low concentration is recommended for young seedlings, so as not to impede the penetration of oxygen under the bark. Having chosen and prepared the composition, you should pay attention to the fact that it should be without lumps, not flow down the wood, be viscous and resemble thick sour cream. The prepared solution should be infused in a bucket for 2-3 hours.

Preparation and coloring of trees

Preparation for whitewashing trees must be done correctly and painstakingly, it begins after the apple trees have given their harvest and the leaves have fallen from them. It includes cleaning the trunk and lower branches from moss, lichens and exfoliated bark, repairing stem wounds and disinfecting. Only after completing all these operations, they start whitewashing. It is recommended to do this in October-November, choosing a cloudy and dry day, after the end of the rainy season. The daytime air temperature on these days should be about 2-4 degrees Celsius. It is advisable to be in time before the first snow falls. It is necessary to make sure that before the precipitation falls, the whitening composition has time to dry on the tree, and does not flow down with the rain.

First of all, before whitewashing, you need to clean the tree trunk. It is good to do this after rains - damp and damp bark will easily separate from the trunk. The bark is cleaned with a blunt wooden knife or not with a sharp chip, but best of all with your hands, so as not to damage the live bark. If you nevertheless damaged the bark of the apple tree, you need to treat the place of damage with charcoal or garden pitch.

In advance, they lay a film or tarpaulin under the tree within a meter and a half radius. The crumbling particles of old bark, branches, moss, fungal formations are recommended to be removed from the site and burned in another territory. If this is not done, they can serve as centers for the spread of scab and fruit rot in the future. Cracks in the trunk are sealed with special solutions or garden pitch. Disinfection of apple trees in the fall includes treating the tree trunk with a solution of ash and soap. To do this, dissolve 1 kg of salt, 2.5 kg of ash and 2 pieces of laundry soap in a bucket of hot water. The resulting mass should be mixed well, brought to a boil, cooled, and only then start to work. The barrel is washed with a rag from all sides.

Only then can whitewashing be done. It is carried out on a dry fine day with a comfortable brush or spray gun. If you want to do this economically, with minimal loss of mortar, then your brush should be sized to fit the thickness of the barrel. In the case of using a spray gun, it is necessary to take into account the large consumption of the prepared liquid. Each tree must be whitewashed twice. Apple trees can be whitened in autumn to the height of the trunk (at least 1.5-1.7 m) or to the height of an outstretched arm. Experienced gardeners believe that the higher the whitewashed trunk, the better.

If you do the whitewashing correctly, taking into account all the recommendations, then the apple trees will not only winter safely, but will also delight you in the summer with their magnificent harvest.

Video "Whitewashing trees: how, when and with what"

The video talks about when and for what purpose to whitewash, how to whitewash trees and how to do it correctly.