I too would be surprised if oil-base were problematic. Latex is a relatively new product, and it seems like the practice of painting trunks goes back well before its common availability. Old timers may have been using milk paint but I suspect white lead was what was getting put down. In terms of breathing...many studies have shown that over finished goods it takes 3 plus coats of any paint (with the exception of epoxies and shellac) to develop an appreciable barrier to vapor and oxygen transfer. This might not directly transcribe to living tissue but would seem to hint that a single coat of either won't get you in much trouble in that regard. Do we even know how much "breathing" is occuring in this area? Brandon, I too would be interested in the paper you mentioned. Often cell damage from freezing is not so much bursting...although this certainly happens, but micro punctures to cell walls and internal structures. This gets caused by tiny needle-like ice crystals that form in a "slushy" environment where solid freeze can't. Such damage might explain the more gradual failure Harvestman notes as opposed to rapid and complete collapse that total cell rupture usually causes in herbaceous plants?

Konrad, Well as I said I was starting this project from scratch and not everybody is detailed in giving instructions. Back in 2012 I did a search and came up with 3 types of recommendations from the internet, straight latex paint, diluted latex paint, mix diluted paint plus joint compound. Did not know which was best so tried all 3. Don't understand why I could not find any comparison of the 3 options at the time and I have to be the one to do the testing but there you go. Heck even now if you take a look at google search for ''paint fruit tree trunk'' 1st link: https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/SP307-G.pdf University of Tennessee and no mention of dilution. In fact they say ''Use paint full strength for maximum protection.'' 2nd link http://fruitgrowersnews.com/index.php/magazine/article/painting-tree-trunks-protects-against-rodents-borers all 3 options are discussed and the Cornell university guy says ''we applied the paint at full strength'' 3rd link from 2012 post here on Garden web: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0115085916619.html ''Paint does not need 50/50 with water color can be any you choose. 50/50 limit to make more paint volume.'' 4th link: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101104170435AADGz8P No mention of dilution. 5th link: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/ (name redacted due to garden web spam blocking) /issue_07/winter_05_11.cfm University of Illinois does not mention dilution. ''Apply the paint using a brush or other materials such as a sponge in order to get a thick coat for better protection.'' 6th link: http://www.starnursery.com/chemicals/specialty-products/white-latex-tree-trunk-paint-1-quart.html No mention of dilution. So of the top 6 google searches done TODAY, 3 have university agriculture guys not mentioning dilution or saying to use full strength and the other links mentioning full strength or not mentioning dilution either. So I think it is pretty clear that not everyone dilutes. Having done the test of the 3 options in my particular environment (zone 4a/b, wet and cold fall - winter - spring, clay soil), I am going with paint:water:joint compound from now on and hopefully someone can take something from my experience when they are trying to decide what to use. I'm just sharing my experience on what worked for me, explaining where I screwed up and what went wrong so others can learn from my mistakes. Eg. in heavy clay don't amend your planting holes. Many references say mix up to 30% compost or good soil into your planting hole with the rest being the natural soil. Others say no amendments. Well this year I found that a 4' hole I dug and did the 30% mix had shrunk! 2 years later now, around the whole outer diameter of the 4' planting hole was a crack 1/2 to 3/4'' wide all the way around where the soil in the planting hole had shrunk and contracted away from the surrounding soil. Yeah, a 3/4'' air gap is not bloody good for roots trying to cross! Essentially I think that tree is going to be a giant root-bound plant. I tried to mash up the soil but as i said that hole was 3' deep and 4' wide so not the easiest thing to do. I'm hoping the worms will finally fill in the air gap and roots will cross. But learn from my mistake, NO AMENDMENTS (at least in clay soil), just put your compost and the like on the top of the surface and the nutrients will find their way down.

Hello Tammy! The Baileys Marvel..is confusing as you might have read. What I forgot to mention on the other posts is,there is a single Mango fruit BELOW the graftline still healthy..growing straight from the trunk. What strange too is,that the seed inside that one is wider then the fruit. You can see it's shape. Like an Alien waiting to get out! Tomato's were good-sweet,but not the typical yield. But sure better than last year's almost none. The neighbors Dragon fruits were there one day..but they were picked long before they turned any color. On purpose or.. taken ? I dont know. Mexicola Avocado-good but pitiful small amounts. White Sapote-good,but since its starting to get too big for my small yard,I have had to prune it..and the fruits took a hit for this year. Not many compared to when Suebelle is left alone. Even the brown Turkey figs seemed to be light in amounts..they miss our normal warmer summers too. On the other hand-we're getting virtually frostless winters..the tradeoff with El or La Nina...

I'm not finding the thread now where I wondered whether I should prune a particular branch on my 18-month-old Alphonso mango or not, just as a flush of growth was winding down during the summer--but I did prune it. I had pruned the rest of the tree awhile earlier and it was growing like crazy, a little too much so in this one spot--it was just one solitary branch going almost to the ground. And then it just sat there looking stumped. In October (!) the tree finally responded to that pruning with a flush of tender new growth, there and in one other random spot; slower than summer, but still, five new branches, and now there's budding. So cool. (Is it normal for it to be budding in November?) But why I most wanted to come back was to thank Stanofh for his help. For the advice that my Alphonso mango needed to be kept warmer than I'd been doing in order for it to bloom. This is a warmer fall than last year's, which helps, but I've been putting my two frost cover layers over the tree right at sundown rather than waiting for the temps to get down into the fifties--what I'd read previously was that it just had to stay above 40 for the inflorescence and that cold prompts it to start budding. That appears to have been incomplete information at best. And I reset the temp control attached to the incandescent Christmas lights to click on sooner. I went looking again for a book, any book, on how to grow them and found one by Lee Reich that had a short entry on mangoes. He said they have to stay above 55 consistently to flower. Which is pretty much what Stanofh had said. So I guess there's cold and there's its idea of what cold is supposed to mean. Stanofh, when I taste my first homegrown mango I will be thanking you for it.