What the above picture does not show is the internal rot that was also happening.

Additionally, there was a sizeable early windfall of apples dropping. Often with rotten spots like this:

Rotten Spots

I never had problems like this before plastic bagging or using footies. The latter seemed to also attract earwigs and promote rot, although to a much lesser extent. The footies, however, didn't stop the Coddling Moth.

All in all, with the Ziploc bagging, I had considerably fewer edible apples, but I also had no Codling Moth. An equitable trade I would think.
But I hope to do better.

Did anybody else have this sort of problem with your Ziploc apple bagging? How did yours go?

I only got a couple of dozen apples of two trees, but this was their first year of fruit and I thinned the crop considerably. The rot problem seems to be the biggest concern. I think one factor that contributed to it was that the corners of the plastic bags that I had cut off for ventilation tended to stick together. I plan to try cutting off the whole bottom on some bags this year and see if it makes a difference. Overall though I was happy with the performance of the bags.

I had nearly identical experiences both with the footies and the ziplock bags. The exception being that your earwig damage looks greater than mine.

I only did maybe 40 apples though so maybe I didn't see the full range of conditions.

I got a lot of splits and drops from my honeycrisp. It probably didn't help that I left most of them on the tree too long.

Some of the splits still left half an apple or more that was good, but of course needed to eaten immediately.

I still think it beats spraying, but didn't work nearly as well for me as it did Jellyman.

Maybe its the climate, or perhaps its the sprays he does leading up to bagging. I did no sprays whatsoever last year.

Its funny because speakers from the Home Orchard Society say to leave the earwigs alone because they are beneficials.

I actually put maybe 60-100 footies on cherries, my entire crop. The Coons got them all in one night. But no bird damage!! I guess the fact I'd go too such trouble shows how hard it is to grow cherries here. I've eaten a half dozen in 5 yrs on 13 trees.

The Fruitnut

Guess i'm in a sweet-spot, no CM damage, dropped fruit or earwigs and only on split in the tippy-top of the tree. The bags had condensation in them all summer and some had puddled water against the fruit but all was well.

On the peaches, footies worked great, no insect damage at all. I noticed on one area where some bird went down three peaches in a row pecking at them and finally gave up. HAA!

Carla in Sac

scaper

Thanks,
Drew

They don't, they just lay their eggs right thru, or on top, of the nylon mesh. I don't know which. Either way, the larvae are able to make their way into the apple itself. On their way out you can clearly see a hole in the footie where they chew right thru to get out. It's almost comical to see an exit hole in the apple perfectly lined up with a chew-hole in the footie.

"Either way, the [Codling moth] larvae are able to make their way into the apple itself."

I'm so grateful for your post. I have always wondered how the mesh stocking could prevent CM, but now my doubts are confirmed.

May I ask for your recommendations now that you've tried these socks? Would lures work well enough? I've heard the Japanese use paper bags, but wouldn't they disintegrate in the rain?

There's got to be a way to stop these little critters!

Thanks for the input. Do you have paper bags specially made for apples? I have not seen these.

Would Tangle Trap at the base of the tree prevent earwigs?

The time to install footies on peaches is right after you have done you final thinning, and the fruits are spaced at roughly 7-8 inches apart. Peaches have a serious tendency to overset, and I thin mine in at least 3 stages, each time selecting the largest, fastest-growing fruits that are undamaged by insects or mildew marks. Once you are satisfied that the thinning is completed, bag the selected peaches immediately. Tie the footie over the twig or branch with a single tie, which will hold it well but make it possible to remove easily. If you put a real knot on these things, you will be cutting them off when picking time arrives. And when it does arrive, remember that the footie will hold the peach on the tree even when it is dead, dead ripe.

You don't say where you are located (and please do), but in many localities plum curculio can be more of a threat on small, developing fruits than oriental fruit moth. But the PC is gone soon, leaving the field to OFM. If you can't get the peaches up to bagging size without serious damage to the larger fruits that you want to retain, it may be necessary to spray once of twice with permethrin or imidan, both of which are effective against PC.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks,
Scaper

I do use sunglasses, but nothing else special.

But I am very, very careful about spray technique, and the weather conditions for spraying. My principal backpack sprayer, a Swissmex SP-2, has a 66 inch brass wand extension, which I have stiffened with bamboo and filament tape. Even when spraying a 10-12 foot tree I can stand back well out of range of spray fallout.

I look for dead calm to spray, but if there is even the slightest breeze, I stay upwind. With the extremely long wand, I can usually reach both sides of a tree without getting below the spray. I never spray upward and stand beneath it.

The long wand is awkward when working in close quarters, but my trees are pretty well spaced apart. It is also a little heavy because of all that weight hanging out there while I hold the spray lever. It is a compromise.

Most of my trees, including the stone fruits, are semi-dwarf size. You might be able to achieve the same objective with a shorter wand if you have smaller trees.

I am not particularly concerned about the toxicity of permethrin should I get a bit in the face. But I also use Imidan and am very careful with that.

Once you see the little blobs of pectin on developing peaches, it is over and time to thin them off, leaving only the peaches without blobs. Then spray or bag them before the blobs appear again.

For the past 8 years, I have kept a flock of small ducks (Call Ducks) based in a pond in the backyard. Ducks are reportedly very sensitive to chemicals, to the extent that their feed should contain no antibiotics or additives. I scoot the ducks away when actually spraying, but when I am finished the ducks resume their foraging throughout the orchard, and I have never seen a sick duck as a result. You could say the ducks are the canary in my coal mine. Healthy ducks, healthy environment. They have begun their spring laying now, and you have never eaten better eggs in your life, though they are on the small side.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks again,
Scaper