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Painting a tree's pruning wounds may be useful after all

Since the 1970s, gardening wisdom has written off as useless the old practice of painting a tree’s pruning wounds. James Wong isn’t so sure

By James Wong

21 February 2024

Protecting the pruned branch of the fruit tree - plum - with garden paste

Wojciech Kozielczyk/Getty Images

IF YOU are a regular reader, you will know of my weird fascination with traditional horticultural practices that endure for decades despite being resoundingly debunked by science. In this article, however, I wanted to explore what might turn out to be a surprising bit of irony. Prepare to get meta…

For well over 400 years, was to paint the pruning wounds of tree branches and trunks with various concoctions, in the belief that this would prevent infection and promote healing.

However, as long ago as , scientists began to ask whether contemporary preparations of white lead,…

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