Apple maggot and codling moth protection

I’ve tried netting trees against birds, and I don’t do it anymore because:

  1. It’s expensive.

  2. It’s time-consuming.

  3. It’s ineffective because birds are not the problem; squirrels are.

  4. It takes a lot of net to cover even a small tree to the point you can gather the loose ends around the trunk.

  5. I taped the loose ends to ½" PVC pipe to make a teepee, but that was frustrating to move to get at the tree underneath. Squirrels could still get under it.

  6. Birds would get caught in the net and die. Squirrels wouldn’t.

  7. The net I used was too porous to turn insects.

BTW, footies (mesh bags) are a lot of trouble, too.

No, my approach toward codling moths nowadays is to set pheromone traps for the males to see when they begin to fly, then track growing degree days until the females begin to lay eggs, then nuke the larvae with chemicals. I outline the technique here along with some other considerably more organic ones that I may or may not indulge in seasonally. I’m still looking for an effective spray for squirrels, though.

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