I think that the latex paint on tree trunks is mainly to prevent sunburn, maybe it helps with some bugs, not sure. Probably more a concern in the SW, South. I have never used it.

Have used similar plastic drainage pipe to keep the deer, mice away from the tree trunks with good resuls.

And Merry Christmas to you too!

After I had a tree girdled by voles, I started using the plastic guards. We had a thread recently about trees lost to voles. Grandpa's nursery sends them with each tree. I take them off in the spring. And I heard latex does stop borers.
Not like the wraps are expensive, cut to size...
Use something to be safe.
Where the latex paint really helps is when we get a warm spell say in the middle of January, the trunk is warmed up from the sun, then the freezing night temps hit. It keeps them very cool, deflecting light thus heat. More important on young trees I would think. Older tougher barked trees will not have this problem.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Fri, Dec 13, 13 at 14:26

Actually, latex paint appears to be a valuable tool to deter borers, judging from this bit of research. I haven't found anything completely fool proof.

amleo.com has pretty cheap plastic spiral vole guards, which I use in my nursery. I don't take them off during the growing season but it's not a bad idea to do so. They may encourage borers, for one thing. Maybe paint first for best overall results.

I used to use aluminum foil, which never failed me for rabbits and meadow voles. It's a good emergency fix when rabbits show up in high snow years and start girdling trees above the snow line.

If you have pine voles, the guards and other trunk wraps obviously won't work as they are subteranean and polish off a trees root system. Bait stations below roof shingles are your best option for this problem but this should be done before the onset of winter (and I'm too late this year).

Here is a link that might be useful: latex paint to control borer damage

HM's article states that full strength latex paint was more effective at controlling borer damage than mixing paint with 50% water which most folks on this forum seem to recommend. Anyone painting their trees with full strength latex paint?

Something I've been using is aluminum window screen. You can normally buy rolls on sale in the fall at home improvement stores. You cut it with scissors put it around the trunk, fold over the side and staple it using those staplers which look like plyers (I don't know what they are called) with normal household staples. The magic about tis is as the tree grows it will pull out the staples so if you put staples at different distances from the trunk the screen will expand as the tree grows so you don't have to take it off every spring. I have had hardware wire screen partially girdle trees, and if I left the plastic spirals on the trees develop disease (ooze) I think due to being to wet.

Latex paint may inhibit peach borers but it does not stop them. Borers normally bore just below ground level where you can't paint. Lessor borers are higher up but you would have to paint the whole tree and diluted latex does not stop them. Perhaps it works better with apple borers I don't know. You can spray diluted latex with your normal sprayer (mine is 150 PSI), but full strength is to thick so you would have to brush it on or have a more heavy duty sprayer than mine.

It is one of my pet peeves that nurseries graft plums onto peach rootstock because I check the peaches for borers (goo at ground level) but normally do not check the plums, and it makes me mad to find borer girlding on my plums when it is totally unnecessary.

I've had borers attack plums on myro, eating the graft cambium. Happened only one season but set back the plums for two years. The peaches were all protected with Lorsban- the least labor intensive solution if you can acquire it. It is the most efficient use of an insecticide possible where most of the material gets exactly where you need it and trees need only a single application annually.

Nurseries I use rarely use peach roots for plums. Adams slipped some by me one year and they heard about it. Haven't noticed them using it since. Borers are just part of the problem- myro is a much more reliable rootstock in terms of soil conditions- thriving even in relatively wet conditions but also able to find water in sand and nutrients and water when competing with other trees. In home orchards, nearby established, full sized trees are much more a problem than many people realize. Peaches are the first species to suffer.