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<pre>Generally speaking young vigorously growing trees such as eucalypts can
develop vertical splits during periods of fast growth after normal
flexing in winds. These can be successfully treated by a proprietory
wound dressing to prevent the transmission of disease to the tree.
Another reason esp. for olives is a lack of calcium caused by a lack of
boron resulting in a weakness or absence of bark. Leaf analysis is the
first step to determine or eliminate these possible causes to these symptoms.

The white paint that Mike W refers to might be whitewash ie slaked lime
& salt. This would have the effect of providing calcium, cleansing the
surface & deterring ground dwelling insects from climbing up the trunk.
Apparently its an old Greek way, every spring do the house, church,
trees, wife etc. A building recipe for whitewash is 1kg hydrated lime,
20g salt, 14g alum in 2.25 litres water. I dont know if that is what
they use in Greece, maybe Stan K can give us a pointer after he returns
from his 'fishing' expedition.

With regards to sunburn, Australia does not have more sun than say Egypt
& in summer probably less than Greece, Italy, Spain with regards to the
latitude. There is no ozone hole over Australia, only Antarctica so the
blistering is probably due to other causes.

Roger Farquhar

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