North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>]

   I'm hoping that someone will answer Nate's question (below).  I'd like to
know too.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN
www.bberryfarm.com 

Nate's question:

I usually try to bag as soon as the apples are big enough to hold a bag (the
size of a dime, sometimes even smaller).  This year I bagged half my apples
(about 50) on June 1st, which was later than I hoped (Zone 4 Minnesota).
While bagging I noticed that almost all of the apples were clean.  I
finished my bagging on June 3rd, but by that time about 70% of the remaining
unbagged apples had been damaged by plum curculio egg laying. Fortunately I
had left the parts of the tree that needed thinning for last (due to
laziness), so I was able to salvage enough of the remaining apples, picking
off the ones that had been damaged. Does anyone know how bad a single plum
curculio bite damages an apple? I've read that if the apple stays on the
tree that the larvae die anyway because apples are too firm for them...but I
wasn't going to waste time bagging it if it was already damaged.

All the articles I've read talk about bagging to help against the apple
maggot (which shows up later) and post-blossoming codling moths attacks, but
I hadn't heard anyone mention bagging to protect against plum curculio
damage. It works if you bag early enough.  I bagged my pears this year for
that reason. (Last year the handful of pears I ripened well).

Nate