The two corners you cut off the bag; are they at the end where the zip closure is or the opposite end?

Opposite end. Thanks, I'll have to clarify that on my web page. The apples only stand upright like that (picture above) when they initially form, after they grow a little that will flop over and hang down, and the zip on the zip lock bag will be on the top.

Gordo,

Bagging has been around for a long time. It's a great method of pest control for certain circumstances.

Don Yellman and Scott Smith have been using it effectively in conjunction with various methods of organic/non-organic methods of pest control for some years.

While it has great benefits, I just want to point out it's not something new or proprietary. Any search on the GardenWeb will return numerous results on fruit bagging.

That said, your results add to the list of successes from many folks who bag.

Tradergordo:

I am happy to hear you have discovered apple bagging. I have been doing it since the early 90's, and this technique has given me many perfect apple crops. I first heard about it from fellow NAFEX members, and adopted it immediately since it was obviously a good idea. There was quite a bit of discussion on apple bagging on the NAFEX message board through the 90's.

The one recent improvement I have seen was suggested right here on Gardenweb by a member whose name I have forgotten. He suggested taking a scissors cut right through the center of the zipper, so that it can close firmly on both sides of the stem. This adds another step to bag preparation, which is already tedious, but I find it justified by improved ease of installation on the little apples, as well as a better seal at the top. Cutting through the zipper calls for very good scissors control, or you can easily cut down into the bag itself. I tried it with a side-cutter, and that did not work.

I am South of you, but still perhaps 10 days from thinning and bag installation. I wait until I can see which of the apples in the cluster is developing the fastest, which indicates the best pollination. It is not always the king fruit. The more seed pockets that are pollinated in an apple, the larger it will become. I have had apples with as many as 10/12 seeds. Of course, I like large apples, and not everyone does.

I will have to spray once more with Imidan to keep the plum curculio away, but after that there will be no more insecticides applied.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Need a better pair of side cutters :)

I doubt if my old ones would do it.

Hey thanks for the comments. I hope I did not come off as sounding like I invented this technique or that it was new. I know its been around for decades, and the fact of the matter is I found out about it right here on gardenweb piecing together info from various posts including jellyman's. You are right, the fastest growing apple is not always the "king" in the middle, but you can usually tell which one is best very soon after pedal drop. I also read about the suggestion of snipping the zip in the middle. I THOUGHT it sounded like a good idea, but when I tried it, I found it was surprisingly difficult to make the cut without cutting the bag below the zip. I don't have first hand experience, but it just seems like bags prepared this way would be much more likely to fall off even though they can initially zip much more snuggly to the apples. An easy way to test this is to bag two apples right next to each other and then pull both bags until one pulls off. Which comes off easier?

But if you say its good, I believe you. I did a few bags like this so I'll watch and see. But really I don't seem to have any problems with the regular method and its faster so I'm not really sure if there is justification for it.

I too favor the V cut in the zipper. It just seems to fit around the stem better. I didn't seem to have a problem cutting into the lower part of the bag. -Glenn

Thanks for posting that, tradergordo. I've read all the prior posts, as well, but it is nice to have your synopsis.

This is the first year I'll be bagging and I was wondering if anyone had experience with whether any particular brands did better at withstanding wind than others? My orchard is windier than most (located on the side of a fairly exposed, windy ridge). Based solely on household use of the bags, I'd assume that the more expensive brands would resist wind better. Any thoughts? I'm tempted to staple 90% of them this year and leave 10% unstapled to see how well they stay put in the wind.

DJ:

I have always used the Wal-Mart sandwich bag, with no problems, but Tradergordo's Costco bags may be even better, and the price is right. I replace all the bags each year since they harden in sunlight and are so cheap anyway. I also keep apples for storage in their bags until use because they reduce shriveling.

Instead of stapling 90% and leaving 10% unstapled for your test, why don't you just reverse those numbers? By the next season, you won't be stapling any of them. If you get the zipper snapped tight, the bags do not blow off. You should run your fingers over each bag after installation just to make sure there are no snaps left in the zipper.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don, thanks for the advice. I'll try your suggested ratio with the ziploc brand bags (if they stay on here, they'll stay on just about anywhere). I hadn't heard of using them as a storage sleeve, as well. Great idea.

Are you and other folks using the 6x6" size? I tried fitting a 7x8" quart bag I had on hand on a fairly large apple and they seemed too large.

I use the standard (small) sandwich bags. I believe the dimension is about 6x6 (not exactly). Larger apples can and will "explode" the bag eventually, but its typically so close to harvest that it doesn't matter. Larger bags would generally be heavier and more expensive, with little extra benefit.

Don or anyone else,

What do you do for bagged fruit and spraying with regards to fungicides and rots and scabs? Is it ok if the fruit doesn't get sprayed, or does the bag somehow protect the fruit? I was under the impression that the bag only protected against bugs.

Thanks.

I put mine on as soon as the petals fell off last year. That is probably why many blew off a short time later in a pretty good wind. I haven't tried the cutting-the-zipper method yet. I may try to staple some as an experiment, as I have lots of apples this year for the first time. The apples that retained their bags last year were wonderful, whereas the ones that the bags blew off or I missed were misshapen, wormy, totally unusable, so the bagging definitely works! Northwoodswis

Just curious - do you know what BRAND of bag you used last year? I put mine on as soon as possible after pedal fall and the bags never fall off. We just had a pretty big storm with lots of wind and rain and this is just 1-2 days after bagging, and the bags (ziplock brand) are all still on the apples.

Thanks for putting that all together tradergordo. This is my first year for apples, as frost has gotten my two trees for the past two years since I planted them. I'm wondering about wind too. My little apples are about the size of a grape, but winds have been horrible lately and more storms expected Thursday. Will the wind catch the bag and rip the apples off the tree? I'd hate to lose my first crop already.

The wind will not rip the apples off the tree. The tree will however naturally thin itself to some extent, so if you bag without properly thinning, you are guaranteed to see some bags on the ground with little apples in them. The way to avoid this is simply by properly thinning. If you are really worried about it, just bag some but not all of your crop and see what happens.

For making a cut in the zipper, I remember someone in this forum who used a hand-held, paper hole-puncher. I think I'll give it a try.

No, I don't remember what brand I used. I did thin first, so that wasn't what made them blow off. We simply had a very ferocious wind shortly after I bagged. After that windy day, no more bags came off the rest of the season. I am curious if the bag would offer enough protection from late frost to say so. This is the earliest spring I can remember.
Northwoodswis

Bought bags yesterday. One tree only has one apple on it and the other has about 15 in clusters of 2 & 3. From what I read, I cut out all but 1 in each cluster so the apples are at least 8" apart?

Does it matter how far apart apple trees are? I have two different varieties but can't remember now what they are. They are about 50' apart. If they hadn't put on fruit this year, I was going to cut them down.

northwoodswis - I could be wrong, but I don't think frosts matter after the apples are already formed, which is when the bags are on. Obviously frost can cause severe damage before the apple is formed. If frost does matter, I would imagine the bags could help. Same would apply to frosts at the end of the growing season I'd imagine.

marti8a - how old are your trees and what size are they? 50 feet apart seems pretty far to get good cross pollination, but I'm not sure that is the problem. Since you don't know the variety of trees, its impossible to say if yours are compatible or not. Did you see lots of blooms that did not become apples? Or were there just not a lot of flowers at all? Did you notice flowers on both trees at the same time?

The last 2 years I used the Walmart Qt. bags without zipper slitting, didn't lose a single bag. BTW, I live in KS and we get a lot of wind from Spring through summer, often for days at a time in excess of 30 mph.

The tree is a Freedom and I haven't had FS of SB on any fruits. All other unsprayed trees in town are covered with SB/FS, must be the bag unless Freedom has resistance, doubt it.

The first Summer I bagged it seemed like the fruit would cook in our lovely 90-100 deg. Summers, they didn't.

The two trees were planted three years ago this spring and are about 10' tall and branches only spread about 3' diameter right now - so still small and skinny.

I think one is a Gala. I remember one is supposed to be a summer harvest and one a fall harvest.

The one with only one apple only had one bloom.

Marti8a, you described the problem, your branches are growing straight up. A lot of newbies expect their trees to just grow into perfect apple producing forms, but this rarely happens. Its your job to force the tree to grow into a shape that will bear abundant fruit as well as promote the heath of the tree. This is done through pruning, pinning, and spreading. It may sound like a lot of effort, but honestly, it isn't. You just have to know what to do, and go do it, and hour or two per tree per year for the first 4 years makes all the difference in the world!

See link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Visual pruning guide

Thanks tradergordo. We pruned them a little each year, but not as much as the video.

I did try the bags, or at least one bag, just to see how it held up to the wind. All the movement made the bag unzip. I might try snipping the edge of the zip part, though I tried with regular scissors and couldn't snip it with the tip of the scissors.