White trunk paint vs green or brown

[Auburn]

There are a few other post about painting trunks of fruit trees with interior latex but I’m interested in using a similar color as the trunks so it would appear natural. As of now all I have only painted is grafts so they are easily seen. Is white the only acceptable color for trunks? I would like to paint to possibly help prevent borer damage and sun damage.

[Stan]

White color reflects light, dark colors absorb light, so a dark color will not help you much against sun damage.

[mrsg47]

I bought plastic , perforated tree guards from England. They work like a charm and do not stick out!

they are not very expensive and I believe 8 come rolled together! I get buckets of sun!

[Auburn]

Looks good.

[Auburn]

Beautiful container.

[snowflake]

We’ve had good luck here with white paint protecting against winter splits, although we still get some splits occasionally/rarely. A yellow transparent on mm111 split bark on the southwest side last winter/spring. It didn’t penetrate too badly and the tree calloused around it. Figured it was because of the wild temp swings early spring, but idk.

I would like to think that white scares away whitetail deer, but that’s only what I’m telling myself to feel better Someday, if someone comes up with a self driving mower that mows a route and avoids white trunks, I’ll be happy!

[Auburn]

Thanks for everyone’s advice. Looks like most of you suggesting the use of white interior latex.

[Auburn]

I’m glad you posted the picture. Your trees actually look good to me with the white trunks.

[snowflake]

We use glidden gripper undiluted. We had used something else previously that didn’t stick as well, and switched to gripper last year. We only needed to touch up very few places this fall (e.g., from trunks expanding diameter). I’m not sure where I got that info. Maybe the following article. I think I combined the idea that glidden gripper was a thing, along with the two Cornell researchers saying that the latex could be painted on undiluted? I don’t know. The trees are fairly young, but nothing much bothers them. Not even our troublesome herd of cats who prefer sharpening their claws on clean bark (although they don’t hang out in the orchard too much).

Painting tree trunks protects against rodents, borers - Fruit Growers News

[BlueBerry]

Haven’t tried…but my guess is some success but not a high percentage can be obtained.
Grafting and budding are possible, too.

[NuttingBumpus]

@Auburn: I’ve spray painted the SW side of my little trees with white or gold paint against possible sunscald in winter. Both did the trick, although we don’t always get sunny temps around 0° over snowpack.

[Auburn]

Thanks

[Ruben]

What type of fruit trees are the ones need to be painted white? Thanks

[BlueBerry]

Around 30 years ago I used outdoor light blue latex paint and thinned it with water.
Painted apple trees. Then began marking other trees with it that I didn’t want to disturb as I cleared some forested land.

The idea is to prevent frozen bark from expanding in winter sunlight and cracking away from the wood of a tree. So you need light colors…white being the lightest.

I’ve since ignored this advice, figuring it was only of small benefit.

A greater help is planting the same side of a tree toward the south as faced that direction in the nursery or wherever it was before planting it. The shaded side of a new plant suddenly turned into the sun plus the winter freeze/thaw and the dark color of the bark…and bark pops off or at least cracks…at a worse rate.

[mamuang]

Ruben,
Have you seen this thread. It has a lot of good info.

Painting trunks for sunburn and rodents

I’ll report back in the spring. I sure hope so, though. Voles tend to get one or two of my trees every year.

Re. What fruit trees to paint, I think any trees that could get sun scald damage should be painted.

[shein33]

I painted all the trunks of my young trees. I thought it would look weird but it’s not an eye sore at all to me.

[Ruben]

Have you seen this thread. It has a lot of good info.

No I haven’t seen it, thanks for pointing out! I’ll check it out. Thanks @mamuang

[Elhanan]

Go Natural Paint (http://gonaturalpaint.com/) is the only tree paint that my local nursery offers, and is brown. I haven’t tried it yet, so can’t comment on effectiveness, but I do try the nursery.

[mrsg47]

Its an « Anduze » pot made in the town of Anduze in southern France. They have been made with same design since the reign of the Louies. They were originally made for Versailles. Each is hand made. They are quite strong. Hope the survive the cooler temps.

[Auburn]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input on this thread. As is the case with most things there are several ways to achieve an outcome. I didn’t need a gallon of paint but it only cost about $10.00 and they brought it to me. If I understand correctly I can apply it as it comes from the can or dilute with water. The goal is to reflect light/heat. I’m in the process of moving trees from one location to another and I don’t know which direction they were originally so hopefully the paint will help reduce sunscald. Thanks again and any additional suggestions are welcome.