So, Jafarj and I bought these bags that Alcedo from the Netherlands/Holland used. They are normally used for selling hot fresh bread so it can breathe when they sell it.
I put them on for the first time today. It was interesting.
They seem to be most useful on small fruit in which it would be excessive work to put them on one by one. I put them on pie cherries, sweet cherries, crabapples, other crabapples, McIntosh apples, and Korean bush cherries. It will be interesting to see how they work. I can cover sometimes 10-15 fruit with one breathable bag. I didn't want to do too much because I still am experimenting. I used a cheap cotton string to tie them. They are approximately 6" by 13" if I recall correctly.
I will report back later to tell people what seems to be happening. I'm excited to see what happens.
John S
PDX OR
John,
It was great to meet you and get to see all of the things you've crammed into your lot. I was especially amazed at the huge trees that you transplanted yourself and how well they seem to have taken it.
I'll be interested to see how you like the bags. I may not be using mine any time soon. Perhaps for some grape clusters as they get closer to ripening.
For me, the biggest appeal of the micro-perf bags from the earlier post was that they looked to have a built in draw string. That looked very appealing for ease of application.
Since these ones don't have a string in them I'm finding myself much less motivated to put them on. We'll see if I get more inspired as the season progresses.
Great to meet you too Jafar.
I don't find the micro perf bags hard to deal with. I just cut small pieces of string, tie and done!
You may not believe this, but my yard is noticeably less densely planted than my last yard. I try to plant at the density of nature, which to me makes some sense. You also get more diversity, more fruit, and more cover to stop weeds.
I will update this list and the Pome News in a little more depth with results.
Let me know if you want to show me your yard.
John S
PDX OR
skyjs@yahoo.com
I have been putting them on my pie cherries. The birds are eating them now, because they are ripening. The micro perf bags protect them from birds, as well as possibly from Spotted Wing Drosophila, I'm hoping. I'm realizing I have to put them on before I put on netting. They are very easy to put on the end of a branch, which is where most of my Montmorency pie cherries are.
John S
PDX OR
Another way I'm going to try to use the bags with short-stemmed apples. My red Mcintosh has non-existent stems, but the apples are now marble sized and attractive to codling moth. Even when I put footies and try to put ziplocs on, they sometimes fall off, and I can sometimes see a gap, because I couldn't tighten them around the apple with no stem!
I think I'm going to put the micro-perf bag on as a temporary measure. I'll put it on a branch to cover 4 or 5 apples until they get big enough to have a stem. Then I'll put on the footie or ziploc.
John S
PDX OR
John makes me think about how much we all love fruit. Put one protection on and then take it off and replace it with a different kind.
That's a lot of work just to get an apple. But hey, count me in. I'm growing apples for me, not the bugs, and I love the birds, but I'm not growing the cherries for them.
I should look at my cherry tree and see if the few fruit might benefit from a bag. I can't quite picture how it works with the leaves trying to grow underneath.
I bet folks on the forum would like to see shots of some of yours if you get around to it.
Of course you are quite welcome to come look at my yard. You'll probably be the first visitor whose interest equals or excedes mine
Perhaps some time after the first week of July?
My black caps should be ripening I'd think, and perhaps some breba figs.
[quote="John S":128abyak]Great to meet you too Jafar.
I don't find the micro perf bags hard to deal with. I just cut small pieces of string, tie and done!
You may not believe this, but my yard is noticeably less densely planted than my last yard. I try to plant at the density of nature, which to me makes some sense. You also get more diversity, more fruit, and more cover to stop weeds.
I will update this list and the Pome News in a little more depth with results.
Let me know if you want to show me your yard.
John S
PDX OR
skyjs@yahoo.com[/quote:128abyak]
Sounds great. I'll try to get around to it this week. The wife is better at the digital camera, posting,etc than I am but she'll probably be able to show me. We're coming back from vacation around July 10. I've been harvesting my strawberries, Korean bush cherries and pie cherries. I have seen some little dots on some of the fruit but no real damage as of yet from the highly feared Drosophila suzukii, spotted wing Drosophila.
John S
PDX OR
I just picked up on a very similar sized Washable Produce Bag at Whole Foods recently and the only real difference is that it will breath easier and probably last longer.
(7" wide by 12" long and large draw-strings)
I think the idea of this bag over that of the plastic one is more for pie cherries so that more air and CO2 (so important) becomes more readily available for the production of sweeter cherries.
The air spaces in the fibre are certainly slightly larger than that of footies but it should screen out cherry flies, just maybe not Apple codling moth.
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