Covering Tree Wounds.
What is the best stuff to use on wounds and large cuts on my fruit trees? I have used grafting wax, but it is expensive and not altogether satisfactory.
Amputation wounds on trees can be more successfully treated with lead and oil paint than with grafting wax. Mixed paint containing benzine would not be so good as pure lead and oil mixed for the purpose and then carefully applied as to amount so as not to run. "Asphaltum Grade D" may also be used in the same way.
Covering Sunburned Bark.
Would asphaltum do to use an sunburned bark?
Owing to the attraction of the heat by the black color, asphaltum would increase the injury by absorption of more heat. Some white coating is altogether best for sunburn injuries, because it will reflect and not absorb heat, and a durable whitewash applied as may be needed to keep the white covering intact is undoubtedly the best treatment. Where the bark has been actually removed, white paint would be superior to whitewash to keep the wood from checking while the wound was being covered laterally by the growth of new bark.
Too Much Pruning.
Same peach trees entering the third year were pruned early in the winter very severely. The pruner merely left the trunk and the three or four main laterals, the latter about one foot in length. A large proportion of these trees have not sprouted as yet, though alder and better pruned trees are all sprouted in the same vicinity. The bark is green and has considerable sap. Will the trees commence to grow?
The trees will sprout later, after they have developed latent buds into active form. The pruning probably removed all the buds of recent growth. After starting they will make irregular growth, starting too many shoots in the wrong places, etc., and considerable effort will be necessary to get well-shaped trees by selection of shoots in the right places and thinning out those which are not desirable.
For Broken Roots.