# Why wrap trees in gauze? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935 "2021-05-12T19:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/1 "2021-05-12T19:53:45Z")
In my neighborhood there are a few houses with smallish (6 to 10 feet) trees wrapped in what appears to be gauze. Why? It’s mostly transparent, so it doesn’t seem like it could protect them from the sun. Is it for some pest? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/2 "2021-05-12T20:20:39Z")
My gut tells me I’d have to quote too much for Fair Use in order to answer, but … these people seem to cover all the usual reasons: > **[Tree Wrap: What It is, Why to Use It, and How - Lawnstarter](https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/tree-care/tree-wrap-what-it-is-why-to-use-it-and-how/)** > > Knowing how to tree wrap can help both you and your tree, or so you hear. But what is tree wrapping, why should you use it, and how? Which doesn’t tell us what your people were _trying_ to do, or even if they’re using a product that will achieve _their_ goals. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/3 "2021-05-12T20:20:53Z")
It could be to prevent sunscald. > **[How to Heal and Protect Your Plants From Sunscald](https://www.greenwaybiotech.com/blogs/gardening-articles/how-to-heal-and-prevent-your-plants-from-sunscald)** > > Are your plants affected by sunscald? Learn how to keep help them heal and prevent sunscald in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/4 "2021-05-12T20:22:13Z")
The wrap protects the young tree trunk from physical damage (trimmer line, sun scorch, deer nibbling) but stretches as the tree grows, then degrades. Maybe it protects against boring insects as well. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/5 "2021-05-12T20:23:16Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Maybe it protects against boring insects as well. JFC. If I have to hear that ash borer’s “Guy walks into a bar” joke One More Time … ! ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/6 "2021-05-12T20:23:32Z")
I’m not sure where you live but there has been news coverage that [Brood X of the periodic cicadas](https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/03/30/a-visual-guide-to-2021-cicadas/4670176001/) will be emerging soon. They purportedly kill smaller trees, particularly those with branches [thinner than a pencil](https://mgnv.org/2021/03/17/protecting-young-trees-from-periodical-cicadas/), Might you be in one of the affected places? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/7 "2021-05-12T20:36:16Z")
In DC, I’m seeing smaller trees covered in gauze tents to protect against cicadas. I think you’re in the same area? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/8 "2021-05-12T20:37:41Z")
Cicadas would probably explain it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/9 "2021-05-12T20:39:56Z")
Dunno why it would be cicadas. They feed on roots. Once they pop above ground to reproduce they don’t eat at all. I’ve heard of their combined weight pulling down branches but otherwise they are harmless to the tree once they are above ground. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/10 "2021-05-12T21:02:26Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Once they pop above ground to reproduce they don’t eat at all. The females cut grooves in the branches and lay eggs inside. Mature trees often have scars. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/11 "2021-05-12T21:53:37Z")
But they will be all over the whole tree. What use is there in wrapping the bottom of the trunk to protect from cicadas? Also, it would be weird if cicadas seriously harmed their tree. Each successive generation depends on the tree for their own survival. Doing something that would kill the tree (or make it more susceptible to dying) would be an evolutionary bad move for them (I would think). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/12 "2021-05-12T21:58:02Z")
The entirety of the trees I’ve been seeing are wrapped, not just the trunks. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/14 "2021-05-13T01:28:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The entirety of the trees I’ve been seeing are wrapped, not just the trunks.   Might as well just tent the whole tree and fumigate it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/15 "2021-05-13T10:57:45Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The entirety of the trees I’ve been seeing are wrapped, not just the trunks Ahhhhh, I’ve never seen that. I thought you were describing trunks that were wrapped. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/16 "2021-05-13T11:02:40Z")
Then it’s certainly to protect it from bugs. Really bad for local bird life though, people do ridiculously earth damaging things to hold back bugs. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/17 "2021-05-13T14:48:40Z")
Here in DC, I’ve only seen it on small trees that look like they were planted recently and only in the last couple of weeks because of brood x. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/18 "2021-05-13T14:53:32Z")
That matches the trees I’ve seen – planted recently, not very big. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/19 "2021-05-13T14:54:56Z")
Meanwhile all us fly fishers are stockpiling cicada flies and waiting… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/20 "2021-05-13T15:16:42Z")
Not knowing where the OP lives and at the risk of saying something really stupid, but perhaps of interest to some … When I lived in the Midwest, every few years we’d have a population explosion of a certain type of spider. They were very small, but their webs looked like a gauzy curtain that would partly or completely envelop a hefty fraction of all the trees and many shrubs in the local area. This article is about a similar-looking event in Pakistan but I’ve seen it in Missouri and Texas. > **[Millions of Spiders in Pakistan Encase Entire Trees in Webs](https://www.wired.com/2011/03/pakistan-tree-spiders/)** > > By Duncan Geere, Wired UK The unprecedented flooding in Pakistan in the latter half of 2010 disrupted the lives of 20 million people, but it also affected the country’s arachnid population. With more than a fifth of the country submerged, millions of... Ref this university cite, certain **[worms in Oklahoma](http://www.dasnr.okstate.edu/Members/sean-hubbard-40okstate.edu/those-are-not-spider-webs-in-the-trees)** can produce a similar effect. Nature: it be weird an’ shit. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935/21 "2021-05-13T16:25:52Z")
I’ve seen in western Canada where they are still fighting a rear-guard action against Dutch Elm Disease that they will wrap the trunk of old elm trees in a strip (only a strip) of fiberglass and foil. Apparently this discourages the bugs that carry the fungus up to the top of the trees in the spring. I know the \*^&%&%$$# rabbits chew off the shoots and bark of smallish trees so protecting the first foot or two is a good idea until they get big enough. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wrap-trees-in-gauze/941935.md?page=2)