From his descriptions I believe he cuts off the lower corners of the bag and the plastic above the "zip".

Also, normally it would be done when the apples are smaller than that. I'm jealous, mine haven't bloomed yet.

Scaper:

1. Do I detect that the bag in the photo is a freezer bag, not a lighter weight sandwich bag? The lighter bags are easier to work with, as well as being cheaper.
2. Murky is correct that I cut off both lower corners of the bags before installation, as well as the excess plastic above the zip closure. The plastic above the zip gets in the way when installing on small and shorter stemmed apples, and is unnecessary once the bag is opened. I can usually remove the excess with a continuous slice from a small scissors, but on very long-stemmed apples at an advanced stage of development you really wouldn't have to remove it if you prefer not to. Corners should be removed to prevent water buildup in the bags, which is not good for the apples and can eventually pull of the bag if you have a lot of rain.
3. Your zip closure is not tightly closed on both sides right up to the stem. This can allow insects to enter, and make the bag fall off. Keep squeezing and running your fingers along the zipper until there are no more snaps felt in the zipper and the only small opening in the middle is occupied by the stem.
4. Has that apple been removed from the tree for the purposes of this demonstration? Wow, if that apple is on the tree, yours really are at an advanced stage of development. I don't even select mine for thinning until close to mid-May, and the bags are usually all on by the 2nd week of June.
5. Other that that, your bag installation looks fine. You have a bag. You have an apple. The rest is details, but important details.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks for the response I really appreciate it. That is a great tip to remove the extra plastic at the top I never thought of that. That extra plastic is why the bag wasn't zipped tighter. It was getting in the way of the leaves. It does not show well in the pic but the corners are actually cut, I remembered reading that I needed to do that in a previous post.

The apple in the photo is on the tree. my hand is on the tree to steady the branch because as I was trying to shoot the pic the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour and blowing the branch all over. The apple is a lower chill cultivar and we warmed up quick here this year and we have not had a late freeze. I will remove the excess plastic and re-install the bag.

Thanks,
Scaper

Scaper:

I cut off a lot more corner than that so that water can flow out freely. You don't have to worry about insects entering through the cut corners, since the material is too slippery for them to hang on. However, they can enter through the top is the zip is not fully zipped, since they can use the stem for traction.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Jellyman, do you reuse the bags each year? Thanks for teaching us this method. Lyn

Holy smokies! You guys do this to every apple?

I may have to do it someday. I noticed when i was thinning that a few of the baby apples seem to have perfectly round holes bored in them. weird, huh?

:)

Well, I did the ziplocks for the first time yesterday on my M27 Honeycrisp apple tree.

Here are a few pictures.

{{gwi:91562}}

{{gwi:91563}}

{{gwi:91564}}

I missed most of my edits by jumping the gun on submitting.

Hopefully I didn't leave too many apples on this 4th year tree. I'm not too worried if it bears biennially since I have another Honeycrisp on M26 and I also don't mind leaving this tree small.

The 2nd season I let it bear 6 apples or so and then in the 3rd it didn't flower.

This year I left 20 some apples. I tried to leave about 2 per branch and not to leave any near the tips since the crotch angles are already near horizontal and the branches are still limber.

Putting them on the tree maybe took 15 minutes. I spent some more time cutting the bags, but I was watching TV and its almost meditatively relaxing.

Perhaps on my M26 I'll leave a few bare and put nylon stockings on a few for comparison.

Murky:

Nice job with the bags, but that tree is just a baby, and too small to ripen out the number of apples you have bagged. The tree will probably tell you so by dropping many of the little apples, bags and all.

That is why I usually wait until the apples are at a later stage of development before installing the bags. This requires a few interim sprays with Imidan or permethrin to protect the fruit, but it enables me to clearly identify the fastest growing fruit which are the ones I know will hold.

Even a half-dozen apples would be taxing that little tree.

I see you are using the ziploc brand bags with the blue/pink seal strip. I found that brand to be inferior in holding power to the ones from Safeway or Wal-Mart which have a much better seal strip for this application.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

"I tried to leave about 2 per branch and not to leave any near the tips since the crotch angles are already near horizontal and the branches are still limber."

I'm struck by this statement. So in effect, you can use the fruit itself to help shape the tree? Like little weights to train the branches?

I love that!

So, Don... you're saying that the Ziploc brand sandwich bags aren't so good? Safeway and Walmart bags are better?
Both Walmart and Safeway here sell Ziploc brand. Maybe other brands too but I don't know.
Exactly what are you using?

BTW, I've installed about 200 Ziploc bags. None have fallen off in the 10 days they've been out there. But no big windy days so far, so I'm hopeful, but still a bit worried.

I've had about a half dozen bags fall off the tree (with the apples in them) after strong winds. Is this normal? Could it be the tree is just naturally dropping more fruit than it can handle? I bagged them when they were about dime-sized and thinned them to one per bunch. The tree is about 15 feet high, 15 feet wide, and the trunk about 10" in diameter -- not a young tree.

Murky:

I agree with Don, about 6 apples is all I'd leave on a tree that small. Surely you want the tree to be bigger than it currently is at maturity. Leaving as many apples as you have almost assures biennial bearing and risks runting the tree out near it's current size. M27 is a very dwarfing stock and runting out is a real concern.

I'm going to replant my apples now on M26 onto M111. My trees lack enough vigor on this soil. M9 worked in Amarillo on a more vigorous soil but even the more vigorous M26 is too weak here. I have to fertilize too much and apple quality suffers as a result.

The Fruitnut

OK, I'll lighten the load.

I guess the same argument I made for not worrying about it could be made for not worrying about forgoing this year's crop. I have an M26 with a similar number of apples on it but several times the volume of canopy.

As far as thinning when the apples are so small, according to an article in the "Pome News" the publication of the Home Orchard Society, thinning very early is more effective at preventing biennial bearing.

Apparently seeds, even immature, release a hormone that inhibits formation of flower buds for next year. I've seen them recommend thinning at 1/2".

I could have just thinned and then waited to bag, but it only took 15 minutes which is time I would have gladly spent with the tree anyway.

Besides, last year I started bagging with just a handful and then I got distracted for the rest of the season by my vegetable garden and knee injury and never got around to doing the rest. I didn't want to miss this year too.

I'll be curious to see which drop. I'll probably leave it as it is for 2 or 3 weeks and then take inventory and decide which others to remove.

Don, I remember your recommendation of house brands for the bags. I just happened to have more name-brand bags than I could otherwise use in a couple of years thanks to Costco and the idea in the back of my mind that they could be used for bagging.

tcstoehr:

I mean the Safeway and Wal-Mart house brand bags, not the national ziploc brand. In the case of Wal-Mart, that is Great Value. These bags have a seal that snaps in tighter than the ziploc brand, and holds on better. I tried the pink and blue ziplocs and quickly went back to the Wal-Mart bags. Try experimenting with them side-by-side, opening and closing them, and I think you'll notice a difference.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Does anyone ever use paper bags such as brown paper lunch bags? Are there any serious disadvantages other than the extra work of stapling them on? My apple trees are not fruiting yet, so I am looking ahead.

Rosefolly

This is probably a really dumb question but if there's a concern of moths getting in the seal if it's not zipped up tight enough, can't the moths climb in through the cut corners?

In zone 5, when should i bag my apples? Do you leave the same bag on all season long?

Jellyman can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the corners tend to stay together (static electricity? shape of bag? force of habit?) Also, the plastic is pretty slippery, so they may have a hard time hanging around the corners so that they can get in.

As for the previous question about brown paper bags.... I think they would get pretty soggy, pretty quickly, then fall off and make a mess. I don't think paper bags would work.

-Glenn

P.S. This coming to you from a guy who has bag exactly 2 whole apples so far. My trees are still little, and I'm experimenting this year with maybe 50% bags. I plan to do some more this week.