I've several times tried to cover smaller trees with tulle netting, but it never comes wide enough. I'd be interested in this. The photo makes it look much too solid, however. I've found that even the tulle will bend down new growing shoots, and I'd worry about the tree getting enough sun.

I've heard of people using that bridal fabric. I also would think some sort of frost cloth would work. I have to cover cherry trees if I want any ripe fruit with bird netting.

I've juggled this around in my head for decades using floating row covers. I think it's a good idea. What I ran into was the affordability of that much row cover and then having to sew it together with good seams.

If bagging and spraying doesn't work on my plums I'll start thinking about it again.

There are quite a few downsides to covering like this .. tree access requires removing the cover, sprays will be hard to get on the tree without uncovering as well (diseases will not be stopped by a net and in fact the lesser air circulation can make them worse), if the cover is sitting on the outer shoots like in the picture they will grow bent and a bit of a mess, and it won't look very pretty to suburban neighbors.

If you have more than a tree or two a high tunnel would probably overall be an easier approach, and you could control the rain that way as well. The one case where it could work well is if your trees didn't need much in the way of disease sprays, then you may be only taking the cover off a couple times a year.

Scott

I think timing could solve many of these potential problems. Most disease sprays go on early, before pests show up, before you would need to bag the tree.

One of my most intractable problems is Japanese beetles at the cherries and plums - which is after cherry harvest. I try to cover the trees to save the leaves.

Thats a good point. You'd need to also keep the net off during bloom or you won't get any pollination, and that is the main disease spray season. So the timing works out well there, put the net on right at petal fall. You could also take it off again after fruiting.

To keep the net off the top of the tree I would build a support of some sort. garedneck once posted a picture of someone using PVC pipe to keep up a net on a tree.

The idea is overall sounding better to me. Especially for cherries which mature fruit quickly there would be relatively little time under the net, and you often need to net cherries for birds anyway so that step would be saved.

Scott

Not sure if frost cloth would work (i think that is what it is), but I bought 5x25 for less then $10... I would think you could wrap a tree in it.

I think if you could keep trees dwarf size, you could easily cover them.

It sounds like a poor idea to me. With the material needed to cover a few trees you could cover several times the foliage under a high tunnel. With a high tunnel you could have rain protection and a door for easy access.

Also even in my greenhouse with no rain and pretty low humidity, sweet cherries are about the only fruit that can have fruit rot even without splitting.

I have actually wondered about using floating row cover myself. I had just ordered some for testing this when I read this post.
The bird netting isn't working out great. It tangles easily and the birds have still eaten some of my peaches through the netting.
I'm wondering if the row cover will be ok on the trees given our high temperatures.
I would love to have a high tunnel to cover everything but it isn't always practical with yard sizes and zoning laws with their set backs etc.

Success was reported with covering individual peach limbs in row covers when fruit was small. Maybe not frost cloth, since lighter fabric gives air/sun. Also, the high tunnel zoning restrictions would not be an issue.

I was thinking of an experiment with something like:
http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/ProductCart/pc/Easy-Gardener-Plant-Seed-Blanket-6-x-20-p3086.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Experiment Success

I've been thinking of something like a high tunnel covered in window screening. But I tend to suspect that this would be a costly project.

ltilton:

The correct type of woven black polypropylene shade cloth would be better than window screen. You can get custom sizes of shade cloth and taped edges with custom spaced grommets. Probably the 30% shade cloth if also using poly for rain protection. You might want 47% if that's all the covering there will be. But I won't put up a high tunnel unless it offered rain protection as well as some degree of insect protection.

Some of the woven shade fabric from Pak has a stabilized woven pattern that would keep out all but the smallest insects. The open spaces are as small or smaller than aluminum window screen. Yet it allows good air exchange for ventillation.

fruitnut - why shade cloth? I try to maximize the sun for my fruit. Also - what's wrong with rain?

The shade cloth is just to keep out bugs and critters. The 30% doesn't cast much shade. Anything you put over the tree to protect it, like the bags, is going to cast some shade. I use a reflective fabric on the floor of my greenhouse to add light back into the canopy. Light is good, rain isn't.

On cherries and any stone fruit, rain is your enemy. It splits cherries and can split other fruit. It also rots fruit. I've got trees in my greenhouse that haven't felt rain in 7 years and they are much healthier for it. The fruit doesn't split and rot. No bacterial canker that killed some outside cherry trees. I've never sprayed for any disease, fruit or tree.

Too much water at the wrong time reduces fruit quality. Any place in the humid belt would have better fruit with potted trees under a rain shelter/high tunnel.

I didn't think you guys HAD any rain in W TX!

We just doubled our rainfall for 2011, 0.04 inch last week. That's a grand total of 0.21 inch in 9 months. It would be funny if not so damaging and expensive.

But the rainy season is almost here. Maybe that will change the pattern!!

Get thee to Home Depot, outdoor garden by septiinc tank stuff. They have very
affordable very filmy white stuff like row cover I use to make bags for each fruit
(and yes I thin like crazy and have one 4" Dorsett apple
you couldsew that together however I spray the bags, have NO insects as the
never get started here and spraying the bags works to keep disease down and
say brown rot will not spread to other peaches.

Greenpagoda, what do you spray your bags with?

This is a topic I hope to see pursued here....I am convinced that fruit trees are becoming increasingly problematic for urban dwellers with increased pesticide regulation, a politicized (almost religious) organic movement that is a good idea but possibly too restrictive, and pests that are becoming increasingly adapted to take advantage of backyard trees.....it is no wonder people wonder if they should rec backyard fruit at all.
I am leaning toward believing container plants of fruit trees on very dwarfing rootstock with a pole to tie the plant to would help.....then after pollination, put on mosquito netting or bridal tulle and put over top of pole and tie into the bottom with a tight seal. I know this works because I have done it.....what I am thinking, though, is the new bug, the spotted wing drosophilia, may need smaller hole sizes (like from the mosquito nets and not the bridal tulle)
Am not familiar with shade cloth idea but thanks for this for me to research more on.
Also, the advantage of container plants is you could put an "umbrella" over top during Fall and Spring in wet climates like we have in Seattle to keep the rain out during our "monsoon" season and thus protect against anthracnose spread or peach leaf curl.

Bagging an entire tree could be made simpler if the tree was trained with bagging in mind. Bagging an entire apple or pear tree trained to an espalier form along a trellis would be much easier than bagging one trained to a central leader or vase form.

As for stone fruit, I found an interesting way to train cherry trees called UFO (Upright Fruiting Offshoots). It is a high density planting method of training cherry trees to a trellis to deal with some of the typical problems associated with training cherry trees (see link below). Again, I think cherry trees grown in this way would be much easier to bag than one trained to one of the typical forms.

Here is a link that might be useful: UFO Training System