North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Biz Storms" <biz.storms@sympatico.ca>]

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences with me regarding my apple 
bagging queries. I bagged apples on the weekend using sealable sandwich bags 
and discovered that the bags often were too long above the sealing strip 
when the apples have a short stem. A small pair of curved nail scissors did 
the trick by cutting a smile into the edge leaving room for the bag to sit 
more comfortably around the top of the apple. Although fiddly, it was only 
necessary a handful of times. The next day a few little ants were found 
inside some of the bags, which meant that either the corner holes were too 
big, or that the tops weren't sealed close enough to the stems. I replaced 
these with tightly sealed bags, after looking for any evidence of bug 
damage, and will watch for water accumulation. If all goes well we should be 
enjoying about 40 to 45 different apple varieties, without having to dodge 
any blemishes. The plastic bags with the drawstrings, mentioned in a 
previous entry, also sound quite appealing.
I so appreciate the information from others and would love to read more 
comments and see pics as the apples or other fruits ripen.

Cheers, Bizmark
Zone 5, Creemore Ontario, - as our heatwave is finally, or hopefully over.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>
To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 11:58 AM
Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Bagging Apples Experiment - Questions


> I use Glad bags with the fold top.  I close using a twist tie.  The bags
> stretched as the apples grew.  None of the bags tore open.  I had no
> ventilation.  I left the bags on in storage.  No apples had worm holes.
> No apples rotted in storage.  I ate the last one on June 2, still crisp
> and sweet.  Some bags collected rainwater which split the apples.  This
> year I will provide drainholes on those few bags that collect water.
> Good luck with your project.
> -Mark Lee, Seattle, zone 8a