About a month ago one of our site’s visitors, Brook G., asked if we had heard of a product referred to as “apple maggot control bags.” Admittedly we hadn’t, but we were intrigued. She recommended them and because of that we decided to seek more information. After all, any non-chemical option to control apple maggots, or any pest for that matter, is always welcome and is probably something we should be clued in about.
Bagging Some Details
So, what are these things? Are they real bags as the name implies? It didn’t take much searching to have our questions answered… gotta love Google, right? We first learned that these bags, also called “fruit bags,” are originally known as “Japanese apple bags” and are used in Japan today as shown in this Backyard Nature article (scroll down to near the bottom for the applicable content and a photo). Knowing this, it is reasonable to assume these things were first used in Japan have been around a long time. This was getting interesting. The search continued.
We were quickly rewarded with this article from the University of Kentucky titled Bagging Apples: Alternative Pest Management for Hobbyists. It was revealing explaining the multiple advantages to using the bags.
- Improved fruit finish for export.
- Summer pest and disease control.
- Extension of growing season (different source).
The article also explains how to use them. Here’s an excerpt:
When the apples reach ½ to ¾ of an inch in diameter, they are ready to be bagged. This should be about three weeks after petal fall. […] — Ric Bessin and John Hartman for UKY
We know chemicals aren’t the best course, red sphere apple maggot traps are only partially effective and best used for monitoring, and other options such as Kaolin or China clay (PDF: Get Adobe Reader) have drawbacks, too: the clay must be applied often. But what about the bags? The advantages seem significant, but adding a bag to each apple, the purchase costs, and the timing of removal… Is it a worthwhile practice? It seems sort of impractical on the commercial level. Comments to this effect would be appreciated — enlighten us. However, we have done experiments in the past to determine if certain tedious hand-labor methods used to thwart pests paid off based in terms of labor expenditure versus benefit, and the results were very favorable. This makes us optimistic. We may write more about this in the future.
But, Wait, There’s More
At this point we were becoming interested in sourcing and selling these apple bags — and perhaps we will. They’d be useful in smaller commercial and home orchards, and on specimens, we figured. But we really had to investigate more. The search continued…
That’s when we learned of a homegrown option — we love stuff like this. This Seattle Post-Intelligencer (PI) article, Good Enough to Eat: Sock it to apple maggots, tells of an epiphany of sorts had by an Oregon Home Orchard Society member when he thought of using footies. Here’s an excerpt:
Relief may have arrived in the form of footies, the nylon socks that women use to try on shoes. Two years ago, an Oregon Home Orchard Society member, watching his girlfriend don footies, had a eureka moment. ‘Why wouldn’t these socks work on fruit bags?’ — Chris Smith for Seattle PI
They were successfully tested. Here’s another excerpt:
He tried them and — voila! — 100 percent protection from apple maggots. Word spread to Washington, and last year many members of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society (STFS) gave footies a try. One member found he could attach six footies a minute, compared with one or two per minute for bags of other styles. — Chris Smith for Seattle PI
Practical? Well, no less so than the commercial bags, and perhaps even more so. They seem to be considerably faster and easier to use. The claim is for 100% apple maggot control (and only slightly less for other pests), though one orchard who “footied” 4,700 trees claimed they had “essentially no apple maggot damage” (emphasis was added) Read the entire article for more into. It’s a good read. And what a feel good solution if the footies are living a second life. We’re fans of reusing things.
Okay, Now What?
So the big question is where do you get hundreds or even thousands of footies. If you have more than a couple of trees the women in your immediate family may not be able to meet your stocking quota. Well, “now there’s a mystery afoot, Watson,” as Sherlock Holmes would say. Or is there? The Oregon Home Orchard Society also offers a resource article titled: Nylon Footies: Excellent Insect Barrier by Ted Swensen. When we read this we also noted that they sell footies. The 2007 rate was $20 for 300 nylon footies. They may have restrictions or limits so you may want to contact them well in advance of the season to be sure you will be able to secure your purchase.
Thanks for the heads up, Brook.
