When the Trees Need a Fresh Coat
Apr 7th, 2009 by jason
At some point after living in China for a while, you resign yourself to the fact that there are some things you will just never understand about life here. There is a lot that can be accomplished towards bridging the gulf between cultures by studing language and having local friends, and immersing yourself as much as you can. However, an amount of mystery will always remain so that, no matter how long you live in another country, you will find yourself in situations where you are simply scratching your head.
Most of the trees that you will see in the city are painted white up the trunk about 3 feet high. I’ve asked a lot of people about what this is for and have received just as many answers ranging from “It just looks nice” to “It’s to keep the pests from destroying the tree” to “It’s so drivers can see where the edge of the road is at night”, all usually given with a hint of uncertainty. So, anyone willing to venture a guess?
Freeze protection. From http://www.aces.edu/dept/peaches/frzpassive.html
Painting Tree Trunks
Research has clearly shown the benefit of painting trunks of peach and other deciduous fruit trees white in late summer/early fall. This practice is designed to reduce bark splitting and serious damage to tree trunks during freeze events. There is a differential heating effect that occurs on tree trunks in the winter months on clear days. Because of the angle of the sun, the south and west sides of tree trunks warm much greater than the north side resulting in loss of hardiness. Work in Georgia showed that temperatures on the south side of a peach tree could reach 96øF while air temperature was only 55øF. It is quite common to measure differences of 25 to 40 degrees on tree trunks not treated with white paint. Because the south sides of trunks warm more than north sides, freeze damage is nearly always worse on the south side. Although growers have gotten away from painting tree trunks to protect them during winter months, the practice is still quite effective. An interior water based white latex paint is generally preferred and should be diluted at least 50% with water.
Hey Guys,
I can relate to these cultural mysteries. It took me at least 6 month in the US to realize that Dairy Queen wasn’t an Arab place of worship, always seeing the whipped cream topping as a sort of steeple or minarett. I also thought for the longest time that “Grease Monkey” (Car Lube place in Colorado) was a fast food chain. One day, I asked Rob whether he thought it really would help them generate customers if they advertized so unabashed how unhealthy their food was…
@Lenny: yeah - mystery solved! you definitely get bonus points for it - i never bothered to even google it…