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Whitewashing in Mexico
As previously mentioned, people whitewash trees for a variety of reasons, depending on the area they live in. For example, in Mexico, the purpose of whitewashing is to protect the tree and fend off a specific type of ant.
These extremely aggressive insects, called leafcutter ants, hunt and cut fresh vegetation, thus compromising flowers, leaves, and grass. They are so vicious that they are able to destroy the foliage of a citrus tree in less than a day. That’s why locals paint the tree trunks using calcium hydroxide, which is very alkaline and will burn any ant that gets near the tree.
Besides repealing ants, whitewashing also protects trees from Mexico’s extreme temperatures. As such, most of Mexico’s trees are healthy, and their bark has little to no cracks.