I've painted trees w/ full strength latex and not noticed any problems. I have seen fissures in the paint, but I've not noticed any problems from it. I quit painting trees several years ago. We don't get cold or snowy enough winters to experience SW injury. I do get some sun scald on the tops of scaffolds if I open the trees up to much during the hot summer. I've found vigor will heal anything but the most severe bark injury in my area. We had a terrible hail storm this spring which chewed up the bark badly. Most of the trees already have the wounds closed up. Re:DDT I can live without it, but it really wasn't responsible for decimating the American Eagle. Eagle population was dangerously low before widespread use of DDT. Eagles and other large predatory birds were considered pests in the early 1900s. Farmers/ranchers would shoot them on sight. DDT did destroy their eggs, but people hunting them was their biggest blight.

Without written records or reliable eyewitness testimony would have to use an increment borer to be sure.

jbclem: Borers usually work around the base of trees, and if there is sap leakage, it is often accompanied by wood frass. Their holes can be found under the sap blobs. When there is widespread sap leakage on a tree, I would suspect bacterial disease, or possibly a fungal gummosis. These diseases cannot be reversed, although trees suffering from them are often able to carry on for several years before the branches begin to die back. If and when your tree begins to show more serious symptoms, such as yellowing of leaves or dieback of branches, that may be the time to take it out. These diseases can spread to other nearby stone fruit trees. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Methley is probably your best bet.