For some plants, the soil around the trunk is limed due to certain requirements for soil conditions and nutrient balance. On the apple tree, on the other hand, you do not lime the soil, but rather apply a protective coat of lime to the trunk.
Why and how should you lime an apple tree?
When liming an apple tree, the soil is not limed, but the trunk is given a protective coat of lime. This serves to protect against temperature fluctuations in winter, pests and fungal diseases and should be applied annually in autumn.
Making preparations for winter in the fall
Once you have harvested the hopefully rich and sweet apples from your apple tree in autumn, you should take appropriate care measures to ensure the yield and tree he alth of the following year. For decades, this has also included a coat of lime, which not only makes the apple trees look well-groomed, but also protects them from various harmful influences. The lime coat should be reapplied every year in order to permanently maintain the vitality of the apple tree, even in difficult locations.
Preparations for tree painting
The lime paint for fruit trees can often be purchased ready-mixed at gardening stores. You can also quickly and easily create a suitable coat of paint yourself by mixing ordinary lime from the hardware store with a little water until it is creamy. First remove loose parts of the bark with a wire brush or a special tree scraper before applying the paint in several layers with a brush. Be careful not to injure young shoots. Otherwise you would open the door to dangerous fungal diseases and other pathogens. At the time of lime painting, you should also check the tree crown for moldy fruit mummies from the previous year and remove them.
Positive effects from a coat of lime
The most important effect of painting the trunk with white lime is protection against strong temperature fluctuations in winter. Sunlight heats up the bark of young trees in particular and can tear if the tension is not dissipated. By reflecting sunlight, this effect is greatly reduced with a coat of lime. Other positive effects of liming apple trees include:
- a visually organized impression
- Protection against various pests
- killing pest larvae that have already been deposited on the trunk
- even fertilization of the soil by slowly washing off the lime when it rains
Tips & Tricks
If you want to be on the safe side against crawling pests, you can also apply a green glue ring around the tree trunk in addition to the white lime paint.
