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I've seen fruit trees and grape vines around my area with their trunks or main stems painted with something white. Does anyone know what that white stuff might be and what it's meant to do? And if I decide to paint mine, when is the right time of year?
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Its lime, they call it var here in Bulgaria may be similar there , its to stop insects climbing up, people in the uk say it doesnt work, but it does, ants seem to hate it,some get across but not many, snails hate it, and the winter moth doesnt like it either, I think people who sayy it doesnt work are paid by pesticide manufacturers!
paint it on any bits that go to the ground, like the poles for vines trunks of trees, make sure it gets in all the gaps on the trunks
I did mine in the autumn, but nobody else did....they looked at me like i was mad!, all the trees and lamp posts here are all painted now though and mine are not, maybe its a spring thing, no idea when its supposed to be done
In the town down the road there are trees done in groups of bands and spots and stripes......as long as somewhere it goes right round and the wider the betterLast edited by starloc; 03-03-2015, 04:42 PM.Living off grid and growing my own food in Bulgaria..... -
Thanks starloc
Very fast answer. I'd certainly like to stop the ants climbing up because they distribute aphids everywhere. But I don't want to use pesticides, so I think lime is worth a try. How do you use it? presumably you buy some kind of powdered lime and mix it with water, but how strong a mixture? Is it builders' lime?
I'm curious about why they would paint the lamp posts with it? What harm do insects do to them?Comment
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No idea about the lamp posts, the only thing i can think is the insects go up and into trees that touch them.
I asked about it and the diy shop didnt sell it but knew a man who did, a man brought it to my house no idea where from , the time before i used the ready mixed bags of rendering sand/lime mix, it seemed to work, but was harder to use and left a crusty layer
Do you have agricultural chemists shops there?, we have the same sign as for a chemists but with something else in front that means agricultural, all full of pesticides, fertilisers and the like
Then again its probably been banned by the EU and still on sale here......as people keep telling me `this is Bulgaria....` I have just bought ammonium nitrate fertiliser for on the plants from Baumax , buy it in the UK and would almost certainly get arrested!
Last edited by starloc; 03-03-2015, 05:41 PM.Living off grid and growing my own food in Bulgaria.....Comment
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No I haven't seen any agricultural chemists here. I can probably get it in a garden shop now I know what it is, or a DIY/garden centre place. I think it's called vápno here.Comment
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