@JamesRinSLC - How has fireblight detection through the Kootenay bag been for you? Here in Colorado, that would be one of the risks.
All - is the consensus on mesh bags that the nylon ones, despite being a bit more cumbersome to work with, are better than the traditional organza bag material? I have a few small ones. It would be nice if they used a similar ribbon closure.
Has anyone tried getting an undesirable odor (garlic, cayenne, peppermint) to ‘stick’ to the slipper nylon bags for rodent repellent? I understand clay (thinking Surround) and paraffin wax absorbs these odors.
Top left- a ziplock plastic sandwich bag for apples. When I used them on pears, my pears got russeted.
Top right -a Clemson (or any brand) paper bag for peaches/nectarines. Need to learn how to apply it. Not easy. I have reused them for a couple of years.
Lower left - organza bags - for figs. I used to use smaller size ones for peaches and plums but found that pests like plum curculio have laid eggs through the bags (when bags tough the fruit due to it’s flimsy material).
Lower right - a nylon bag. Bugs cannot lay egg though this material but it is difficult to close it tightly. If it is not close tightly, bugs can crawl in through the opening. Come only a large size, too big and too expensive for plums. Near Impossible to bag peaches with it. I use it on pears, sometimes.
The rodents you need to worry about are squirrels, raccoons, opossums. Cayenne, peppermint and garlic don’t stop them.
This is what I use. But my cherries have worms. I must have put the bags on too late. Admittedly, I may not have done the slip knot tight enough. Maybe next year I will use a twisty. Glad they worked for you.
I only use the bags on the bottom right. I have found them in larger sizes on eBay or amazon. I have bagged entirely branches. I have really big ones where I nab entire grape vine. I think OC got in through the opening as it is a challenge to pull that red string and tightly. I think next year, I will use a garbage bag twisty or something with wire in it to secure the opening. Now, when do you put your bags on? As soon as you see fruit? Or a few weeks later?
Since smaller organza bags had to be cut off fruit last year, being too small, I bought a larger size. High winds soon after application has pulled at least 10% of bagged apples from the tree.
This year I bought what I’d hoped to be nylon footies from the same company that used to supply Raintree, for I found an empty container & googled them. What they sent are not nylon footies. They are sewn at one end & appear to be such fabric as I imagine “yoga pants” are made of. (I’ve never been close to such in order to compare.) This fabric is opaque, meaning it allows no sunlight through. It is quite slippery & will not stick to itself, neither does it hold kaolin well. Further, it must be attached to the stem with a twist tie. So far it has proven a lot of work for each apple.
I put the organza or slick bags in a colander & poured kaolin over them, moved them about by hand & poured again, using two bowls. This was the routine with footies that had not already been given kaolin.
Next year I will carefully seek nylon footies, for that has worked best for my trees.
I have bagged in the past with a little cloth like bag just about the size of the mature fruit. Takes alot of time to put on. Does protect about 90 % of the fruit from coddling moth, but the coddling moth larvae used the bags as places to cocoon successfully. I am going with thinning, surround and spinosad for coddling moth this year, as well as banding the trunks with cardboard, and thinning out any fruit I can find with a sting… We shall see.
I bought a bunch of the organza bags and used them this year. This will be a test year with them for me. The price is reasonable and they go on easy. I’m probably going to need a larger bag for Dripping Honey and Korean Giant pears.
You may know this, prior to its closing, Home Orchard Society sold nylon apple bags (footsie material) with and without Surround (they soaked footsies in Surround for us). It was very convenient to order and use.
What you did was very time consuming. For apples, I stay with ziplock plastic sandwich bags. It is so convenient and quick to put on. I may lost about a dozen to sunburn on a variety like Gold Rush. Otherwise, it is effective, cheap and convenient.
@mamuang Yes, HOS was the impetus & supply for my fruit covers for years. Now that they have retrenched into HOEC I have been casting about for alternative sources.
I tried ziplocks, only to find earwigs invading & staying in the bags unmolested by other predators & sunburn/rot on much of the fruit. Also, if I didn’t cut the lower corners, they would fill with water & sometimes pull the fruit off the twig or drown it & rot ensued that way.
Nylon footies (already coated with kaolin) were the best investment for me in cash, time & effort. God bless Ted Swenson & the members of the former Home Orchard Society.
GoldRush is the most productive tree on the property this season
For ziplock bags, yes, we have to cut both lower corners for ventilation. And yes, I hate earwigs. Stan, a former member here, said to put a shallow can like a tuna can on the ground next to the trunk of a tree and fill the can it with oil. That’s how he trapped earwigs. I have not try as I often forgot about earwigs.
I use organza bags on Asian pears for the first time just to try them out. Up to this year I did not bag my A pears, too many of them.
I did spray pesticide early on several times but later pests including wasps manage to do a number on my pears. These do not include bigger pests like squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, etc.
From Kootenay website
“Squirrels are a problem in some home orchards. They seem to attack fruit just as it ripens. The Kootenay Covers may deter some squirrel attacks, but not all of them. Given enough time and persistence, squirrels can chew through Kootenay Covers. We do not recommend using the covers to deter squirrels.”
Organza/mesh bags provide essentially no protection against squirrels, raccoons, etc… They however can be quite effective against insects. Do they offer 100% protection though? Absolutely not…
The bag was tight against the surface of this peach and probably curculio drilled right through it.
have worms. I must have put the bags on too late. Admittedly, I may not have done the slip knot tight enough. Maybe next year I will use a twisty. Glad they worked for you.
