I see that Territorial Seed Company offers a new tree net that is supposed to protect a fruit tree from fruit flies. They seem a little pricey at $77.95 for 9’8" square net with velcro closing and toggled drawstring base, but if it would last several seasons it might be worth it. Shipping weight is 11 pounds. If anyone tries these, please report back to the rest of us how it holds up. Thanks. It would be easier than bagging, too.
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Thanks,here is a link to the cover.Brady
Folks, this is really small, a 10’ wide net will cover a 3 foot wide tree with 3 feet of branches. The circumference of a circle is 2piR or 2 X 3.14 X 1/2 the diameter, or 3.14 X the diameter.
In order to keep out SWD the net mesh size needs to be 1mm or less so insure the netting you get is this size or smaller. Sailrite has no-see um netting 60" for $3 per yd you can sew together to make larger pieces (a 10’ X 10’ would cost ~$25, 20’ X 20’ $100). Dubois Agrivation has Proteknet Insect Netting FIIN2X100-80 6.6’ wide by 328 ’ for $370 plus shipping which would make 4 - 25 X 20’ nets if you sewed them together (which is easy to do with a normal sewing machine and sail thread). There are currently no reasonable sources for SWD tree netting without spending hundreds of dollars for a few trees. They extensively use netting in Australia for Mediterranean fruit flys, but these are much larger than SWD so the same netting does not work.
We use netting for insect control, but mainly japanese beetles, wasps, and other larger insects,(as well as birds) and it works very well, but I have been unable to fork over the $4000 it would take to upgrade to SWD netting for use only on trees with ripening fruit.
Eric
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Thanks for pointing that out, PlumHill. Back to the drawing board.