Quote Originally Posted by LXNDR View Post
i'm really curious how trees survive without it in other parts of the world

basically if you wish to make a city look like a village daub trees with lime

man, it's so lime
Man, do you see ANYTHING NOT in the negative light?

The primary goal of painting trunks is to scare off hares and such (in village areas) and insects when a tree is in its most vulnerable (it also kills bugs who already managed to hide in the bark). The other reason is that it protects bark from sun and frost burns and prevents isolated parts of a tree from an early "awakening", because during early spring the difference between night and day temperatures can be quite big and potentially damaging.

At least it's supposed to work this way, as our primary teacher insisted. There are different opinions on this matter.

This practice is widespread in cities now, but initially it was used mostly for fruit trees for obvious reasons: they are more fragile than wild trees, and a fruit tree that awoke and blossomed too early would not give a lot of fruits - the blossoms often fall off when the late frosts strike. And in regards to city "non-blossoming" trees it's probably mindless tradition, supported by a fact that some people think that it looks nice (early spring in city could be very muddy and gray, and white trunks lighten it up a little).