Graffiti on trees

cmw

cmw

Location
seattle
Does anyone have experience removing graffiti on trees?

The trees in question are a mature pine and oak in a highly visible area of an historic landscape. My gut reaction is to leave it alone and let it fade over time. Other ideas include a wire brush and soap/water.

Anyone tried anything creative that works?

-Chris
 
Bark is dead, should be able to attack it with coarse sandpaper enough to give it an antiqued faded look. With smooth barked trees I'd try soap and water or graffiti remover with a quick rinse. I never really tried it on trees but I have sanded wood and I have used grafitti remover and soap and water so almost an expert. How about grafitti artist remover? Some dogs that hate the smell of airisol and felt pens but they don't bark. Call it tagging.

Could experiment with the yogurt and oatmeal and let molds and moss do the work. You said creative. Or sticky traps that fill with bugs and get the birds to peck the paint off. You could probably cover paint it black or faux bark.
 
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Does anyone have experience removing graffiti on trees?

The trees in question are a mature pine and oak in a highly visible area of an historic landscape. My gut reaction is to leave it alone and let it fade over time. Other ideas include a wire brush and soap/water.

Anyone tried anything creative that works?

-Chris

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Did you ever read The Wild Trees? Or see the Nat Geo video on redwoods?

Because this reminds me of the blue paint mentioned in each of those, and how the paint remained for decades.

Good chance the graffiti won't fade in just a few months or years. Could be long-lasting.

Would have to see the tree, but I'd probably go with like 40 grit sandpaper ... something really coarse like that.

...
 
What about matching the bark color with some matte spray paint. Get two, tree or four colors of grey, brown, and dark greens (or just what ever colors you see on the bark). I've been on jobs where we have painted hardware from bracing, it doesn't look prefect but it will help camouflage...
 
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How about the salesman that would paint on prune trees. Had to laugh.

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Yeah, I remember in the 70's and early 80' having to bring the tied on can of paint and spray all our cut's.

Kinda funny and maybe a character builder,, IDK,,

Stupid paint,,
Jeff
 
Sand paper is the best I have found on thick barked trees - you don't get 100% - but it fades it out enough that a much lighter coat of "cover up" can be used in whatever color fits the tree. With younger trees or smooth bark - soapy water and a sponge. We get a dozen or so trees a year that get tagged by our "senior citizen" gangs - because we all know that the youth of today can do nothing wrong!
 
Wire brush and rinsing with a waterhose while your at it. There's no damage done on the tree.
But you have to 'clean' more than the painted patch, otherwise you still have (in our case) the big dicks on the road side oak trees for many years as clean algae free patches.
grin.gif
 
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