I don't think the staples are necessary. Just zipping the bag snugly up to the stem is adequate. But what I do is make a cut thru the center of the zipper, but no farther. That way, the zipper closes tightly on each side of the stem. Don't forget to remove the portion of the bag above the zipper.
Coddling Moth and Apple Maggot do not get in thru the corner cuts, at least not very often. They're not analytical creatures, they just see the fruit and go for it. I've have heard one person claim that Plum Curculio gets into the bags but I don't know, we don't have those here.
I put the bags on as soon as the apples are large enough for me to deal with. For me that's about the size of a peanut kernel. Even so, at that size it's impossible to spot them all but I just yank off the ones that I missed as the season goes by.

Thin before you bag. You can do it in one session.

Thankyou both for your help. Why do you cut off that little 1/2 inch piece of plastic above the zipper? I like your idea of making the small cut. filix

filix,
I do not cut off the flap but I did cut off the corners. I will not cut off the corners next year but will make a snip at the corners towards the center. That should allow drainage and be more of a deterrent to the earwigs. I put on 300 baggies and had excellent results. I put them on when the apples are quarter size. I also spray Once and Done one time before bagging. Labor intensive but very nice results. I had to do something since the bug pressure from the apple maggot and codling moths were ruining every apple. And that was with spraying all summer. With hundreds of wild trees nearby the pests come in force. The baggies do not stop scab so I will do one spray for that next year as well. By the way I did put a few on the Seckle pears and I did not care for the changes to the skin. Made it rather course and rough. Not sure why. Also put a few on my Chojura pears and very good results there.
Good luck.
Bberry

What did you spray before bagging? Makes me wonder what people did two hundred years ago. Just eat around the worm holes? Thanks again. filix

You will need to wait until the apples get to a sufficient size that you can put the bags around them. Meanwhile you will need to spray if you have curculio, which attack the young apples as soon as they start growing. If you want to go the organic route, Surround works pretty well at this point.

The bags seem to work well to keep out the standard apple pests -- curculio and codling moth. Some earwigs will get in, but they are not a big deal and won't ruin the fruit, but this year here in Maryland we had a major stinkbug infestation, and they definitely got into the bags, ruining much fruit. This is the first year I have experienced these pests and I hope it is the last. If stinkbug problems of the level we experienced this year become the norm, it is going to be almost impossible to grow organic fruit in MD -- at least fruit that ripens in the August-September window.

filix: I tried using the slit in the zipper this year on less than half and didn't find any real difference, no bags came off whether the slit was made or not. the slits maybe made it a tiny bit easier to put the bags on in some instances. next year I'll prep the bags by removing the corners and the plastic above the zipper and leave it at that, if a slit is called for it'll be done in the field.

One experience I've had but yet to hear anyone else have with the bagging is wind blowing off the young fruit, bag and all within a few weeks of bagging. This Spring I bagged at about the same size on my big tree, appx. 1/2" +- fruit, as in the 2 previous years. Within a week of bagging we got a howling wind in excess of 30 mph (maybe 40) that was removing bagged fruit about 1/second. Noticing the bags zipping by the house I ran out thinking the bags were blowing off the fruit, no such luck. I removed as many bags as possible as fast as possible while the wind continued for about another 1/2 hour or more and then quit. Damned straight line winds, welcome to KS!

To make matters worse, I didn't spray in the 2-3 weeks after while making sure the fruit got big enough to stay on with high winds, big mistake, that's when the CM came-a -viztin I think.

This year's strategy, spray prior to bagging and wait longer to bag or risk another wind ripping episode. In the past I was lucky and managed to bag early enough to preempt CM and we didn't have any howling winds removing my bagged small fruit, lesson learned.

Bagging is a pain in the A.... I bag my grape vines. Otherwise I would not have even one grape left. I have a big army of Yellow Jacket wasps I spray at their nest but where are the other nests, may be one mile away at the neighbors. The dam creature took notice of my Figs and I have to bag my Figs too. Apricots ripen early before the wasps become a problem. Too much work. Insects are easy, spray and kill the hell out of them. I am defenseless against Wasps and squirrels.

And what to do in the winter. :) Go to Home Depot and buy a lot of the filmy
white "sewer" cloth in the outside garden section. Fold to cut bags like 6x6 inches with the bottom a fold to make it easier. Now staple the 2 sides making
a bag. Maybe spray with surround If you have problems before the fruit start
coloring (nectarines) or curculio. Then thin ( I keep my trees low and wide like
the Japanese who bag everything. After thinning to a min. 6" apart to 8" slip the bags over the fruit and the branch, pinch together and secure with a paper clip with some body. Not the really thin wire kind. This has many advantages. the birds don't see the fruit nor the squirrels for a while. Also you can spray like captan on the bags for bitter rot and the tree and get much less on the apples.
also brown rot for instance does not spread from fruit to fruit and ruin all. I
am experimenting with serenade and 1 cup molasses per gallon of water as
a good fungicide. Unlike sulfur which we cannot use in the heat the molasses mix caused no damage to trees or fruit. Also it breathes! plastic could set
mildew pretty good I think altho I use newspaper bags on my papayas as soon
as petals almost gone for fruit fly with holes from a knife point thruout
and the bottom corners cut. They will last 2 years with care. Rinse thoroly in
in something fungicidal at the end of the season, dry and store. hope this makes you a happy camper. I love having almost all perfect fruits. Oh, on the
wasps. Try making either a very large pot of partly cooked dry northern beans left in the pot to ferment with say 4 " of top space OR spare fruits
fermenting. They should go in and all drown.

Last year bagging apples worked well, EXCEPT most of my Honeygolds had black fungus spots on them(believe it's called black splotch. I suspect it was due to high humidity in the bag. Am thinking of punching small holes in bags, to increase ventilation. Anyone have experience with this?

One of the people that I correspond with feels that the bags actually help with sooty blotch and the related fly speck. For me, it's still a problem inside the bags. Thankfully you can scrub it off with a green scruffy. I've looked at spraying 3336WP for this, but not sure how well it would work with the bags. -Glenn

I've done bagging two years now with much success. We are getting the stink bugs pretty heavily around here but not too many got in the bags. I'll be watching closely this year. No other bugs got in. I use a hole punch to punch thru the zipper right in the center. This seems to hold around the stem very securely.
My only problem last year is what I think is called "water core". The inner part of the apple kinda turns clear and watery. It's difficult to describe. I believe it happens from the heat inside the bag (it was very hot in N Va last year). I'd like to learn more about it if anyone has any advice. Thnx

I had trouble with sooty blotch when I used the footies, not baggies.