I don’t know about vole but castor oil is relatively expensive, and it didn’t work for gophers in my area. Steel wool will rust really fast when wet.
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I’ll report back in the spring. I sure hope so, though. Voles tend to get one or two of my trees every year.
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The trees I am protecting are ones in my greenhouse. We have such a short season, and the winters are brutal so I am experimenting with step over espalier fruits that line my greenhouse beds. I only need to protect them in the winter as the voles and mice live in the mulch so water and rusting should not be an issue. I am considering feeding my farm cats in the greenhouse.
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I was in the mood to paint all my young fruit trees today. Grabbed a can of a light colored roof paint and went to town on the trunks. When I got done I noticed it is an acrylic based paint and not latex. Hope I have not just hurt my trees. 
Did you dilute the paint 50:50?
Nope. Just painted it on till everything was covered. Not sure what affect this will have.
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@Silverfoot,
Roof paint has ingredients that seal a surface tightly. No room for water to leak. This means your tree trunks are tightly sealed as well.
I wonder how harmful it would be for a tree if its trunk could not breathe.
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Well, the reason I chose that paint was
- I happend to have some left from a different project.
- Several of my young trees had bark that was peeling off from probably sun damage and I wanted something thick to seal some cracks.
- I did not bother to consult Google first. Lol.
The trees are painted from ground level to 18" or so.
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Typically folks use an interior flat latex, diluted 50:50 with water to thin it even more. The idea being (at least here in my locale) that you are making the trunk more reflective of the sun, not sealing it. Even semi-gloss and glossy finish paints tend to seal too well.
On the other hand, folks use a lot of different paints and techniques, including mixing with plaster/spackle and putting it on really thick Can’t imagine there is a lot of air exchange through that… So there is a good chance your trees will be fine.
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Resurrect this thread because I want to paint tree trunks. Bought this from Hope Depot.
Interior water-based latex, flat white paint. It does say “provide mildew resistant, scrubbable, washable coating.”
That gives me pause. Mildew coating? Would that harm trees?
Washable? would that wash out easily in heavy rain?
Appreciate your thoughts.
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In this context, I believe that scrubbable/washable probably means that you can wash stuff off of the paint without having the paint itself wash away. So, probably more likely to be rain-resistant if anything.
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Its liquid plastic/rubber, no it will not wash off unless it rains while the paint is wet. You’re also not painting the entire trunk? I think you’re fine.
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My wife was in the food business producing her own Ethiopian hot sauce years back. I made a paste out of some of her bulk Habanero seeds to protect stone fruit they were raking off the trees. Apparently squirrels in my region really like very, very spicy food, or are at least willing to deal with it if they are starving.
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Thanks, @JinMA and @mrsg47 .
I asked the guy at HD for a white latex paint. He gave me this one. Funny that it did not says latex on the can it does not list any ingredients, either.
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Latex is also acrylic. Water soluble for application only. When dry, its hard as a rock. What makes it washable is that it is a sealant. Comes in different finishes.
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@mamuang it’s probably splitting hairs but i prefer to use at least a Satin finish paint. Flat paint would not be my go-to.
2 cents.
Hmmm, I have often read that people here use flat paint.
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I think it’s just a personal quirk of mine 
I probably shouldn’t have said anything.
I just like that glossier finishes shed water better and in my mind would be less prone to mildew, etc and last longer.
Mine first paint was semi-gloss, off white. That’s what I had from leftover house paint at the time!,
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Perfect!