Here is a photo from a blog written by a guy who was a Christian missionary in Romania.
You’ll notice that the bottom meter or so of every tree is painted white. All over the country you see this, along side highways, streets and even foot paths. Why?
This is not an idle question. People all over the internet have been asking it for years.
Millions and millions of trees are painted every year, costing untold sums of money and a gigantic workforce. It is a tremendous coordinated effort that takes place year after year.
Look at some of the theories:
The most common response is that it had something to do with insect repellent.
And:
I believe folks who paint their trees and rocks are those who remember fondly their time in the military.
And:
It originally was done to prevent sun scald since the white paint reflected the sunlight.
And:
I’d assumed that the whitewash on trees was done for visibility as I’ve only ever seen it on trees right next to the road.
And:
The trees that were painted didn’t seem any different than the trees that weren’t painted.
And:
I understood that trees were painted white to stop the trees from becoming too warm in early spring/late winter under a hot sun.
Or last but definitely not least:
They paint the trees so that just as you have been forced off the road you can see what you are about to hit.
So…. what’s your theory on why they paint the trees white in Romania?
All Things Romania 
insect repellent for sure. did paint some trees in my childhood too. and it works..
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I have also been told that the trees are painted with var (calcium hydroxide – slaked lime) which was indeed used as a white paint in many houses before washable paint (vopsea lavabilă) was available. Theoretically non-flying insects like ants can’t climb the tree because the lime supposedly burns their feet or maybe the insects are unable to imprint their scent so others can follow.
I’ve also heard about the „visibility at night” theory but it can’t be true since this is also done on trees that are not adjacent to roads
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Aha! I think we’re getting somewhere now. In English this would be called whitewash. Yes!
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As a young boy I asked my grandpa why we paint all the trees with white “var” (sorry but I don’t know the English word and I’m too lazy to search for it) in the spring and he told me that doing that will help the tree to be safe from the crawling bugs which will no longer climb to the tree top to eat his freshly young leaves.
Also, he told me that after all the trees have been painted white the environment looks more “cleaner” and pleasant after the ugly, muddy days of the last winter.
Spor.
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It is definitely insect repellent. I even had a storybook about it (and other interesting plant facts) when I was little – note that it’s not an exclusively Romanian thing, since the book was written in Russia.
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Trees are painted to prevent insects. Usually the trees on public ground are painted by convicts from local jails as work in the help of the community, this is why they get them done every year…those guys have to have something to work.
The theory in which they provide visibility for driving is wrong, if they wanted that, they would of just painted the road, which if u look at, is not painted at all in most roads of Romania.
PS: Don’t listed to Laslo up there, he must be Hungarian!!!
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I am not Hungarian, mind you, not that there’s anything wrong with that. My name is the Hungarian equivalent of Vasile, which used to be my great grandfather’s name. During the Hungarian occupation of Transsylvania they changed many names into (more or less) their Hungarian equivalent. :P “AND NOW YOU KNOW”
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:D
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I think originally they used to paint the lower part of fruit bearing trees’ trunks white in small orchards to prevent hares and other rodent vermin from chewing through them and very effectively killing them off. The insect repellent theory is also correct as far as I know.
City authorities also tend to cut off the trees’ branches every year so that in the next spring the fresh, thin vines and saplings would provide for a more enjoyable visual experience (there are a few exceptions and this whole practice is debatable in my humble opinion), painting the scars with whitewash or, sometimes, a very poetic red.
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I totallly noticed this in a photo the other day! The photo was in a building with the door open and you could fully see the white based trees outside… My guess would have been as a visibility-while-driving thing, but guy above’s theory seems pretty solid 8)
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Actually, it is an insect repellent – it was used mostly for fruit bearing trees to keep insects from crawling up.
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All of those theories are total nonsense. Everyone knows the trees are painted with a white garlic paste to keep the vampires at bay.
/s
:P
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