I stopped using these bags on peaches since earwigs still get inside and use the bag as a nice protected home to live and breed in.
which size bag do you use? these look awesome!
Earwigs bother my apples but rarely seen on peaches. Thanks for the warning.
I do wrap trunks of all my trees to discourage ants, earwigs and other crawlers. Maybe, this is effective with my peaches because there is enough space in between each tree. Where apples are, everything touches one another.
I know you also do zip lock bags. Is the color difference as apparent with zip locks too?
I just keep imagining you would end up with baked apples if you did this, I mean you basically have a greenhouse over your fruit.
Nice comparison. Thanks
Are you talking about Stan’s bags or plastic zip lock bags?
@Susu, no color differences in plastic bags or organza bags. Those in Japanese paper bags/ Clemson bags have a paler color but not so diffferent like Stan’s.
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was trying to link my related post last night but for some reason didn’t register. And i agree, cripps pink truly is worth the effort and expense 
The one time I tried to bag plums, they were very shortly filled with earwigs
I believe that if you have a stand alone tree with no branches touch the ground, fences or other trees/structures, trunk wrapping early in the season ( before earwigs move up your tree) works.
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what do you use to wrap your trunks? curious if tanglefoot would help.
You can wrap a trunk with many things including masking tape, strips of cut up grocery bags, etc.
overlapping the materials around the trunk of a tree. I make a band about 8-10” wide and smear it generously with Tangle Foot.
Do not smear Tangle Foit directly on a trunk of a tree esp. young tree.
Do it in early spring before crawlers start climbing up your trees. In my area, I do it in late March, early April.
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4x6 for most plums and apricots
5x7 for most peaches and smaller apples
6x8 for large peaches and mid-size to large apples (6x8 would even fit pomegranates)
I had seen a video of a person using the cloth/footie type bag on their apples. They had some without the bags and the color difference was exactly what you encountered. So it sort of a trade off. Nice looking apples both years.
Thank you for posting this comparison for us.
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I am curious as to how long the bag might last. I use Surround soaked footies that last about 2 years - using one that is stronger and a little larger . I like to remove the footie for a couple of weeks to get some color. Was this your first season using them?
I have been reusing some of these bags for three years now. I throw a whole bunch of them into the washing machine at the end of the season. Drawstrings get tattered, but the bags themselves are pretty durable and can be reused over several years.
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Ok. I’m in. Once summer hits here in the PNW, it is fairly warm and dry ( I hesitate to say this should I jinx it). Worst case scenario, I could start off with SS footies. Thanks Stan for trialing these and giving us results.
I saw one case where red apples ended up olive green after a season with footies on. It wasn’t from lack of pigment, it was from severe sooty blotch. 
Interestingly, the apples still had their red pigment color underneath, so not all apples need direct sunlight on the fruit to turn red.
Should anti-fungal sprays be used with cloth bags in areas prone to excessive rain and humidity?
I’m in California, spray nothing on my apples and hence in no position to answer that question. I believe, @mamuang uses various types of bags and knows well what sprays are needed in Northeast.
What you basically did, was that you re-discovered a method used in Japan for bagging each apple for achieving an extraordinary colour.
Bagged apples are sold at a higher price there.
As I understand, the bag does not let ultra-violet and other rays through, that could effect the pigmentation of the skin. Although I can not explain how a bagged Mutsu apple is red in colour.
Do you still have any photos of how you bagged them on a tree?
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