Mark: Last summer I tried bagging apples on 11 trees with nylon? socks used by some shoe stores for people trying on shoes. The footies were beige stretchy fabric. They were fairly easy to attach using regular paper staples. Was surprised that the footies socks lasted from May until August with few holes. I did spray them regularly with Surround as additional protection against sunburn and codling moth.

I would say that this system was ~95% effective against bird damage, one of our worst problems. It was about ~80% effective against codling moth, which aren't too bad here. It was ~90% effective against sunburn which is severe.

So not too bad but not sure I'll go to all that trouble again this yr. Mainly because the apples here aren't up to my standards on size and quality. If I cann't solve that problem, none of it is worth the effort. Lack of adequate winter chill may be part of the problem but don't think that can be the whole issue.

The Fruitnut

Thanks Fruitnut. I only have one apple tree and a pear that I would consider bagging on. The plum probably takes care of itself OK and the apricots, well, they're subject to so many whims of weather ... So the few dozens I would have to cover wouldn't be too much trouble. I know it would seem worth it in the end.

Codling moth is my biggest concern; squirrels are an issue too. I can't shoot them here legally, but they are trappable and I've relocated a couple. (My neighbor relocates them to a garbage can. So far I just pack them to a park a few miles away and let them duke it out with the existing population.) I expect that I'll need a couple of early sprays (malathion?) before bagging. I've also wondered about enclosing a few moth crystals in the bag, probably a bad idea!

Thanks again for responding, and good luck with your sunburn. Too bad there isn't a SP30 for apples!

Best,

Mark

I did try it last season for the first time. I followed the procedures I read in this forum using zip lock baggies with drainage holes after sever thinning. My results were terrible. In the latter parts of the summer it became one of my yard chores to pick up the bags that had fallen off the trees ( apple and all). On the apples I still had yellow scab, actual moss and slim on north side fruit. Earwigs in the bags and fruit drop. Most of the fruit that made to maturity went in to the compost bin or were processed into apple sauce.

Ouch. Can you offer any ideas as to why you you got the results you did? Timing/rains/overcast/limited sunlight/earwigs everywhere/sabotage by crazy neighbor/anything at all?

I think I can see why it would be iffy for fruit like nectarines, peaches, and apricots (my apricots are earwig magnets) but apples and pears, I had hoped, would be good choices. I'm really hoping to have better results than you did. I'm guessing you were pretty frustrated by September!

Right now I plan to give it a go, so I'm hoping to hear from as many experienced people as possible. We'll see.

Thanks, Gary, for your input.

:-)M

Mark, I put the bags on when the apples were about the size of a dime and when ever we had decent wind the bags flapping around were more than the small stems could withstand. Then came a normal early summer drop that I thought would be prevented by the heavy thinning but wasn't. I clipped a small cut in the bottom corners for drainage but the water that seeped around the stem created a moist enviroment that the earwigs loved and the lack of air cirulation prevented drying.
Yes I was frustrated and grossed out. Of course my motherinlaw telling me she knew it was a bad idea every day didn't help lol

Hi Gary.

We live in an arid climate, but get some pretty good winds sometimes. Big issue is codling moths.

I know Jellyman must live in a humid climate, and I'm hoping to have his input soon; He sounds more hopeful, maybe he can help!

Right now I'm not planning to quit spraying, I just hope to be able to supplement the practice.

("The lyfe so shorte, the crafte so longe to lerne ...")

Thanks again,

M

Mark, I wrote about my bagging experiences in other threads but I wanted to contrast with how it worked for Gary. I used cotton drawstring bags, not baggies. I also lost some due to winds, but there were not many apple drops, it was the plums that I had problems with dropping. If the bags got wet and the wind blew hard, it would add a lot of force on the small plum stems. The peach and apple stems are a lot stronger. My main problem was squirrels which I would have had whatever I used to control insect damage. A few of the apples were bad inside the bag, and a few got some damage by the stem due to the bag. Also quite a few bagged apples had sooty blotch or other cosmetic diseases.

Gary, as to why you had your problems I am not sure. If your bags were super heavy-duty they may have had more weight or size which caused more to drop. You could live in a more windy place than most people. Or maybe your trees were not ready to bear fruit anyway and wanted to drop all the baby apples with or without bags.

The main downside I found to bagging was the time involved. This year I am going to bag a few choice fruit and do an experiment of Surround plus spinosad on the rest.

Scott

Hi Mark!

IÂve been experimenting with bagging apples with plastic zip closure bags for a few years. So far, the results have been good, provided that I got the bags on early enough. I spray fungicide in late winter, and then use a growing season dilution of oil after petal fall. I spray oil again (at least once) before bagging to try to knock out any eggs/crawlers that have not yet found the fruit. Bagging the apples is intensive, but then allows me to avoid spraying during the growing season. Once the apples are bagged, they do well against scab and rots.

The nasty earwigs do prey on the bagged apples occasionally, but the bags sure do confound the apple maggot fly. I have seen them walk back and forth on the plastic covered apple, trying to figure it out.

Last year I delayed spraying oil and waited too long before bagging. By the time I got to the task, I already had major issues with curculio. This year I intend to get to it earlier.

Best wishes,
PoseyPlanter

I have had a terrible problem with curculio on my peaches. So last summer I put on peach condomns (aka-sandwich zip lock bags with bottom tips cut off for drainage)after I thinned the peaches. spent some time every week picking up bags off the lawn before it was cut--and the peaches not in the bags were not attacked by the bugs or mold last year! No difference between those in the bags and those not bagged. I got a nice crop. Now I just need to spray the trees for scale and peach leaf curl. I wonder if all this work on two trees is worth it. and now I know that these trees, that were suppose to be free stone are NOT! red haven and reliance-but tasted great.

Thanks to all for the comments. I'll inclined to try it on at least some of my apples this year. But I'll do a dormant oil spray soon, and be ready with malathion or imidan- but if anybody has suggestions I'm up for them. I just don't want to throw away a whole crop again, and that's happened before.

:-)M