I just spent a bit of time putting footies on my asian pears, in advance of a storm. Well, it was a bit windier than I expected and maybe we didn't put them on far enough (how far it good?), but I woke up to see a quarter of them on the ground (yep, from a bag of 300). It was just silly looking (and disheartening). So, can I reuse these? I rinsed the dirt off and air dried them. Some look a little stretched at the opening. Would they shrink up in the dryer? Any tips for making these stay put on the pears? I tried to twist the excess around the stem, but one of the trees has shorter stems than the other. The pears are about nickel to quarter size right now, so am I pushing my luck?
i've reused them. Since I got them last season, I haven't seen one that has disintegrated yet. During the season, as I harvest one apple cultivar, I would then simply transfer them over to the next crop that has not been wrapped.
Haven't notice any shrinking, at least from the brands that I use.
[quote="JoeReal":36qseeva]...Haven't notice any shrinking, at least from the brands that I use.[/quote:36qseeva]
Joe, I meant that I had heard that one could intentionally wet them and then put them in the dryer for the purpose of shrinking them.
From what I understand, they stretch out during use and they aren't resilient (don't go back to original shape). The purpose of shrinking them was so that they could again form to the shape of a very small apple.
The presumption being that they are applied without any type of fastener.
btw, I'm "murky" on gardenweb where you've answered several of my posts over the last year or so. Thanks.
Hey, small world! Well, I don't see the need to really shrink them once they expand. I just tie together the open ends using simple overhand knot when I reuse them if they are really loose and could not simply place over small fruit. Why don't you try a few during laundry, should be quick to find out. But I don't see the need to. Even the brand new footies I tie the open end into a knot so that they will hold on in case of strong winds.
Hi Everyone,
Well...I used them again, and with good results! I did wash the dirt off (silly, I know) and then dried them in the dryer. I think getting them wet was the real help. This seemed to help them shrink back a bit, at the ends, anyway. I don't think the dryer made any difference. I had about 80 fall of in the original windstorm (these weren't put on far enough). So when I reattached them, I just twisted them around the stem again. For the ones that had not fallen off, I pushed the footie further up and twisted it around the stem again. These didn't twist as well and were a little more mishapen from where the fruit had swelled. But after it rained, they seemed to be attached pretty well. A handful have fallen, most with immature fruit in them. Hope this works through the season, as it's easier than tying knots. Thanks for all the tips!
That's good to know about your observations kater!
Well, I am a fisherman, and when fishing if my line breaks, it is never at or around the knot that I tie. So tying a simple overhand knot is very quick and comes naturally almost automatically.
Yes my kids would just simply slid the footies over and then twist the open end around the stem, but I usually work faster than them. Of course it would be faster still if I didn't tie the ends.
So far I've got one codling moth damage within the bag, that's one out of the five boxes of footies I have used. So it is really effective.
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