Garden experiment success!

15 years ago

Last year I tried something kind of crazy to finally get organic peaches that were edible. I reasoned that if crops could be grown using protective cloth then why wouldn't it work on small trees? Anyway, I made some long rectangular bags out of light weight garden cloth and slid them over the entire branch of the peach tree, making them big enough for growth. I did this when the peaches were very small b4 the bugs could get to them. I secured the bags with long pieces of wire ties. I honestly didn't think it would work but much to my surprise and the amazement of my husband and neighbors when harvesting time came along the peaches growing inside the bags were beautiful, juicy and had very little black mold on the skin. The peaches outside the bags on the tree were horrible as usual and inedible. Just imagine my husbands delight when he bit into our experimental peaches and sweet juice ran down his arm. I have ordered dwarf apples and a nectarine and we plan on keeping the trees trimmed small so we can cover the entire tree with one big bag. I'm hopeful this will work out as well. My experiment did not effect the growth of the leaves or the wood as long as the bags were big enough. Hope if you have been frustrated with growing fruit trees that this will help you too.

Vicki

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Comments (9)

midlin
15 years ago
Kept, congratulations on your success!

Can you share what is garden cloth? Is it solid or a mesh/screen, and how big are the openings? Color?

Thanks and good luck this year!
kept
Original Author
15 years ago
The cloth I used I found at a garden/nursery in my area. Most likely you have seen it. It's the stuff they use over rows. Sometimes they call it floating row cover. I think it comes in different thickness but the thicker it is the less light gets through to the plant. I'm pretty sure what I used was pretty thin because there was no sign of the foliage not getting enough sun/air. It was strong enough to hold up to wind without tearing. It's kind of a fine impenetrable white mesh. I think I might have to cushion the blunt ends of cuts made when trimming the trees so that it won't tear but really it is pretty tough. Sorry I don't have the original bag it came in but hopefully my description will enable you to find what I'm talking about. I know it sounds crazy and this year the whole peach tree is going to be "bagged" so maybe it will be to much for the tree but I'm willing to give it a try. Can't really lose for trying because otherwise I get no fruit at all with the insects in my hot jungle type climate!
I wish you all the success. If it works to bag the whole tree we will really be on to something!
Vicki
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denno
15 years ago
Thanks for sharing your results, Vicki. I believe someone also wrote about using plastic sandwich bags, but I like your idea of an air breathing material. Since I use that stuff on my rows, I'll cut up some and give it a try. I also put some of that sticky stuff around the base of the trees to keep the crawlers off.
kept
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh great! Please keep in touch through the growing season and we can compare notes. Hopefully, in July/August we will be biting into beautiful yummy organic peaches!
Vicki
planatus
15 years ago
Very interesting! There are threads in the fruits forum on bagging apples, but this is the first whole branch approach I've seen. Bet you could use a very fine mesh chiffon fabric with similar results.
piedmontnc
15 years ago
When you get a chance, can you post some pics of your set-up?
kept
Original Author
15 years ago
I would be happy to.
Vicki
Brigitte Christofferson
11 years ago
Great idea! I'm going to try some of these ideas and see which ones work best. I have squirrels! If I don't do something I won't have any fruit! Has anybody tried using laundry bags over the branches? I think I can bag a whole branch that way...I need bigger bags...
I like the idea of bagging the whole tree... It would keep the rascals off my tree....
I used netting on the apricot tree...but they were figuring how to get around that...
Last year I only got 1 or 2 berries off the berry bush.
I just put zip lock lunch bags on the berries for this year...hope that saves them...
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 years ago
Strangely enough yesterday I did just this with my greengage tree. The Jackdaws had stripped off hundreds of tiny green baby fruit and it looked as if I wasn't going to get any at all this year so I improvised by tying pieces of horticultural fleece over the remaining fruit clusters with string. Let's hope it is as successful as your experiment, Kept.