Quote Originally Posted by chinabiker View Post
They paint them every year before winter with some kind of lime paint.
Don't know the exact reason, but some people say it has something to to with avoiding insects to hibernate.

Andy
Hi Andy, you haven't asked your gardener! Maybe because he wasn't in China those days? But he's back now, and he's answering your questions now, as SHORT as possible:
The reason for the white "paint" is partly to keep some insects away, partly, maybe a side effect is road safety. But the real reason is that the winter sun may heat up the bark, the stem too much because the bark, the stem is usually dark, thus absorbs the sunlight much more. Light will covert into heat which may cause an expansion of the bark and the wood below. Because the sun only shines onto one side of the stem, it may lead to unequal expansion of the wood, the wood, the stem may burst and tear the bark apart. But the fliuds run right under the bark, if the bark is damaged (more than approx 50%) of the circumference, the tree will die, at least suffer. And the bark is a kind of infection protection (like your skin is). Infection will have it easy to enter the tree once the bark is open, the tree is wounded.
Got it?
CU next Tuesday, 7 pm @ Franks place for our first Beijing Biker Meeting? Everbody's invited, even those on 3 wheels ;-)