Re- evaluating bagging fruit

Bagging, Meh…
https://youtu.be/waEC-8GFTP4

9 Likes

A few years ago, my daughter showed me this video. I honestly think it’s the funniest autotune video I’ve ever seen. I still think of it with a smile every time.

3 Likes

Once you get a certain amount of harvest it gets harder to do the bagging. I never bagged very much for that reason. If the bags kept the squirrels off it would be worth it, and that is why I started bagging, but even with the thick cotton bags I got they were ripping them off.

2 Likes

Antmary, could you name the brand and type of frost protection cloth you used? It looks different, sturdier, from the Agribon 19 that I use.

Some bag making instructions would be very welcome.

1 Like

Here is the link to the fabric. I bought the smallest roll for 14$. I’ll make instructions later.

frost protection fabric

3 Likes

Earwigs get into the ziplocks, too

2 Likes

For me, it’s all about insect protection

1 Like

Thanks for the link for the frost cloth. They are sold out of the small $14 quantity right now but they have it in the larger quantities and sizes.

1 Like

I put a satsuma in a ziploc maybe 2 weeks ago…today i found it on the ground all rotted out… The others on the tree are still fine. Its been terribly wet here, humid… probably didn’t help. I think i’d want cotton or something breathable on plums.

I’ve been using small sections of hardware cloth and other scrap pieces of fencing to put over my plums to keep the birds off.

1 Like

I bagged pears and apples using ziplock bag and peaches using Clemson paper bags. I leave some fruit not bagged, so I can check the effect. One thing I noticed that even I thinned peaches a lot, they still fall off the tree later and make some bagging effort wasted. Also many unbagged peaches / apples have insect damage already, will check the effect of bagging later of the season.

1 Like

My Gala tree - about 2 weeks to harvest

18 Likes

@ltilton

I didn’t know we could also grow little plastic bags. How do you fertilize?

:slight_smile:
Neat!!!

Mike

5 Likes

Very nice. Looked very decorative.

2 Likes

I ran out of footies from Home Orchard Society and put sandwich ziplock style bags on the rest. Same problem as last (first time,) which was sunburn, flags tearing fruit away in wind and way too much moisture retained, even with both bottom corners nicked open.
I find footies work well as long as I get 'em on early enough in the season. An hour or so per tree beats buying spraying equipment, messing with toxins and spraying repeatedly through the season.
Made a first batch of apple sauce with Rambour Franc last night. Light purée and light green color; doesn’t brown readily.Fine on granola. Time to bake applesauce cake!

4 Likes

Great shot! Love the apples new phone?

1 Like

Looks great. Do you have an estimate of how many apples are bagged?

1 Like

No, I had the computer serviced

1 Like

I bagged about 400 and didn’t get a lot of drops

3 Likes

Wow, that is a lot of Gala apples. They keep well so I hope you have some extra refrigerator space. Bagging takes a little extra time initially but that is all you need to do until harvest. I’m trying some other methods but bagging is still my best option for pristine fruit.

4 Likes

Too many, I fear.

I want to get my Fuji’s into production to have a later, better-keeping apple

A lot of the Galas will go to the food pantry, and I probably won’t see many next year, as the tree seems to be going biennial.

But I thinned a whole lot more than I bagged!

2 Likes