Why Are Some Trees Painted White? A Winter Secret, Revealed

How It’s Done—With Patience and Respect

The method is simple, but thoughtful:

• Paint: Ordinary water-based latex paint (never oil-based—it can suffocate the bark).
• Dilution: One part paint to one part water. Thin enough to breathe, thick enough to protect.
• Application: A soft brush, or sometimes a sprayer for orchards—always covering the trunk evenly, especially on the south and west sides, where winter sun hits hardest.

And how often?
Just once a year—usually in late fall, before the deepest cold sets in.
The paint weathers away with spring rains, by which time the tree no longer needs it.
Nature, in time, reclaims its own rhythm.