Bagging does keep the bugs off. A number of both paper and plastic bags
got blown off in various storms. Perhaps the most useful thing that I
can contribute is a web page with pictures of bagged and unbagged
apples. The pictures go something like this:
(1) Bagged and unbagged gold rush apples. Tree was totally unsprayed.
The difference between the bagged and unbagged apples is quite significant.
(2) Bagged and unbagged scarlet o'hara apples. Tree did get 2 or three
sprays (can't remember now): one about three weeks after petal drop
(mid-May), possibly one very early June, and one near the end of June.
The difference between bagged and unbagged apples isn't that
significant. But I do have balls coated with the stickum stuff (similar
to tanglefoot, but available in larger containers for less money) that
have done a lot of protecting. I got the bags on about three weeks after
petal drop, and many apples had already been zapped by the bad guys, so
you will notice some damage on the bagged apple.
(3) A couple pictures of the fake apples. These are styrofoam balls,
painted red, covered by a sandwich bag, and stuck up with the gunk. The
sandwich bag was someone else's bright idea; at the end of the season,
you don't really have to unstick the ball, just remove the bag and drop
the bag in the garbage. I've taken to describing these red balls as tar
babies for various evil fruit flies and such. People get the idea quickly.
(4*) I suppose that I could sacrifice a paper-bagged apple and remove
the bag so that you can see what it looks like. I haven't done it yet.
Will let you know when I take the pictures. If the apples are still
green (from the white paper bag), I intend to try Michael Phillips
suggestion about writing a child's name of transparent tape and sticking
it on the apple until harvest, thus getting a harvested apple with the
kids name in green on a red background.