How do you make whitewash like you used to see painted on trees? Is it beneficial to the tree or just for looks? Mona

-- Mona (monalea@hotmail.com), August 23, 2000

Answers

The simplest whitewash recipe is to mix three parts hydrated lime (slick lime, slaked lime, builder's lime, type-s or type-n are all near enough the same as far as whitewash is concerned) with one part salt (stock salt from your ag supplier is the cheapest clean salt.) Then slowly add this to a bucket that's half full of water. Keep stirring in the lime & salt until it gets thick enough to use. Don't try to get it as thick as paint, but just enough to cover what it's going on. Doing two or three thing coats would be better than one thick one.

I remember the ratio better than the exact amounts. Try a gallon and a half of lime, half a gallon of salt and 2.5 gallons of water.

There are recipes that include other things like boiled linseed oil that make a tougher paint, but that shouldn't be needed for trees and might harm them for all I know. You also get a better paint if you use milk instead of water.

Anyhow, once mixed, put a lid on it and let it set for a day or over night, stirring occasionally.

Whitewashing trees is mainly done to keep the trucks from getting sun-scalded, but it might help with some pests too.

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), August 23, 2000.

There is a wonderful web site: www.kramers.org that give all kinds of formulas for making milk paint, whitewash, stains, varnish etc. The gentleman whose site this is committed to restoration work and it is likely you can find a whitewash recipe that may meet your needs.

-- Anne Tower (bbill@wtvl.net), August 27, 2000.