I plastic-bagged (cheap grade of ziplocs) my scabbiest apple last spring, before June, and most of them turned out very nice. This year I will do the same, but will cut the entire bottom of the bag open. They didn't breath well enough last summer. Fruit will breath better with the bottom cut open. They were worm free too, another bonus!

That apple was Pink Parfait, a real scab magnet. Only other problem I have with this apple is bitterpit, which is a calcium problem, not fixed with bagging.

The cheaper style of ziplocs clasp right around the apple stem. I had cut a v-notch into each bag last year right up to the actual zippable portion of the bag so as to accomodate the shorter stemmed cultivars.

Turns out that last summers exposure to sun was not enough to destroy the plastic bags, so they are good for yet another season of scab and worm protection.

I think stapling and twist ties would be lots more effort than just zipping a bag around the one remaining apple left on a spur, when thinning them. I have had people comment that it sounded like alot of work, but after all you are right there examining the fruit cluster, pinching off all but the most handsome one, why not put a bag on it?

99% of all my apples were worm free last year. Without bagging every other apple would have a codling moth at minimum. And the scabby var's turned out nearly perfect. Those scabby types without bags were nearly inedible-looking to say the least, so it is not because of lack of innoculum that the bagged ones looked nice. I think the bags protected them from scab.