So far this year I've recovered about 130 of the 300 footies I put out in May and the first week in June. I haven't counted the exact number of perfect asian pears I've collected, but there are maybe two dozen. That's not what I expected when I bought them based on the claim that they were some 95+% effective. In fact, it's not much better than last year's experience with no protection whatsoever. 24 out of 130 is less than 20% effective.
It may be that the damaged pears are dropping sooner than the good ones (I've only been collecting windfalls, as it's too early for fully-ripe pears) and the rest of the harvest from my one very productive, one moderately productive and two unproductive trees, may bring up the average. Even if that's true, it's unlikely that the footies will be much more than 50 - 60% effective.
The damage to the fruit is due to both codling moths and bird pecks which have rotted badly. I don't have experience with how frequently bird damage rots rather than drying-up, but there were almost no un-rotted pecks or other mechanical damage.
If the rest of the fruit is in good condition, it will have been worth the effort to use the footies, but that remains to be seen. As of right now, I wouldn't bother again.
Happy harvest,
Frank
My experience between last year and this year is dramatic. I didn't really use footies either year. Last year my fruit were perfect. This year they are shot through with worms. I don't think comparing last year without footies to this year with footies is going to give an accurate picture. I would like to hear from someone who used footies both years and see if there was a difference.
As a wise man once said, "More research is needed in these areas."
John S
PDX OR
Well, the rest of the pears aren't going to be in any better shape than the early ones; I'm still only getting a few perfect pears among the scores of those damaged by codling moth and/or with rotten parts probably due to bird damage.
More than 1/2 the crop (maybe as much as 2/3rds) so far has gone directly into the trash and the rest, barring about a score, is damaged, but I intend to try to save as much as I can by canning, the same as last year. Gone are my fond hopes of putting out a self-serve table and offering piles pears to neighbors for 25-50 cents a piece.
Next year, I'll give it one more try, with Spinosad spray instead of the footies, but after that, if it doesn't work, that tree will have to come out - it's way too much effort cleaning-up the fallen pears and disposing of them in the garbage to justify it for 20 or 30 good pears out of the several hundred it produces. They are mostly nice big pears, too, I weighed one at about 14 ozs.
All of this is primarily about the one "20th Century" variety (Nijiseki) in the front yard. I still have three other varieties in the back yard that are very light producers, so far, but which have been much less infested or rotten for some reason, even though they are only about 100 feet away from the 20Cen and in the vicinity of a neighbor's apples that are badly infested.
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron