I don’t have any stone fruit to cover right now but I’m going to try a few of my BroGanza Jumbo sleeves next year. I’m pretty sure I can arrange them to where they don’t touch the fruit which appears to be the entry point. I have also noticed that you can spray through the bag if desired.
1 Like
Your bags made of better material, stronger and tougher. Do you think I can find them at Home Depot or Lowe’s?
1 Like
I’m not sure if this question is for me or the previous poster.
1 Like
For you, Bill. You have made unique bags with different material from regular organza or bead bags.
2 Likes
I’ve found all my colored bags are fading to white/gray… they don’t hold their color long in the sun.
1 Like
Yup my Japanese two part bags, my Chinese Kraft paper two part bags both types with the embedded wire, and my Clemson bags are all starting to come off but my Organzas are holdin out so far.
1 Like
I sure wish I had some stone fruit to test these on because you never know how any bag will work without a test. Home Depot has what appears to be similar screening as what I used but I didn’t get ours from them. I think the material I used is fiberglass. It easily cuts with scissors. If they work well I might sew them together on a sewing machine with nylon thread. I’m thinking these might be best used where limbs can be covered.
1 Like
Bill,
here’s my report:
- bread bags, pull string organza bags if antpy part of the bags touch fruit, bugs can damage fruit through the bags.
- it is difficult not to have bags touch fruit esp.after strong wind or heavy rain.
- branch bags (with bread bags), if there is any opening big enough for bugs to crawl through, you are done.
- it is difficult to close each end of a bag tightly. You need to trim many side branches to stub to be able to close a bag well.
Even after bagging, Surround should be sprayed at least to cover the two generation of PC.
Next year, strongly consider bagging the whole trees.
Pomme fruit grow so fast. Even Bug bites often cause only superficial damage.
Don’t grow stone fruit if you don’t want a headache. My husband wonders why I wasted many hours bagging with little success. I start to wonder that myself!!!
2 Likes
Sorry it didn’t work this year. I’m early into growing stone fruit and the reason I delayed starting was because of the tough challenge getting insect free fruit. Bagging the whole tree sound like a good method.
1 Like
Keep your trees small for easy netting. I will prune mine to a small, manageable size.
3 Likes
Smart. If you let them grow, what the insects do not ruin, the squirrels will take!
2 Likes
It’s good to share your fruits with the squirrels. They need the nutrients of an almost ripe peach…the one peach that you’ve been waiting years to taste…and you find it half chewed on, laying next to a power pole covered in ants.
Keeping trees small i think is a smart move if you don’t need huge yields. So much easier for frost protection, winter protection, bug protection…etc etc.
3 Likes
This pic was taken this morning. I removed the bread bag from this branch. Somehow there was a hole ( or holes?) for PC to climb in. All gone when that happened.
4 Likes
Did you spray with triaz. Before you bagged?
1 Like
Yup. Twice. They came later through holes into sleeves or lay eggs through bags that touch fruit.
Cover the whole tree, fruit may not touch fabric at all.
1 Like
. I would only find earwigs in my apple bags. Now I just spray then cover the entire tree if the tree us under 8’ tall. One exception is my large sour cherry.
1 Like
Apples and pears can fend for themselves even without bagging… I do not bag my pears this year. So far, there are some damages but no where as bad as the damage on stone fruit.
I speak strictly about soft slin stone fruit.
2 Likes
maybe footies first then organza, I’m going to try that next year
1 Like
That’s something to think about. Footsies on little plums would post some challenges to put on.
Definitely need oversize organza bags even for small plums. Small bags give little room between plums and the bags. Make it easy for bugs to do damage.
1 Like
maybe shrinking the footies in the dryer under high heat first
1 Like