Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Getting Ready For Next Season's Fruit

I read a fabulous snippet (a tiny blurb in a magazine, from someone leaving a comment they published... not an article) and the lady mentioned how the magazine had published people suggesting to use ziplock baggies to put over their fruit to keep bugs off, and not having to spray. However, quite simply there was BAD air circulation and ripening and bad spots were still a problem.

Luckily, she ran into a organic orchardist (or whatever they are called) who helps people change over to less spray methods on small scale and large scale... he told here the zip bag idea was good, just take it up a notch to GREAT by making her own bags out of row cover material instead.

So that's what we're doing, making 6"-8" draw string bags out of row cover material to put over our fruits. The 8" bags will be for clustered fruits I may come across and only thin slightly. This will allow good air flow, drainage and sun exposure while keeping fruit bug free.

2 comments:

  1. That is similar to the bags we have to cover our cherry trees. We get cherry maggots which come from cherry fruit flies that come out of the soil and lay the eggs on the green cherries. We cover the tree and have pest-free cherries (also pesticide-free as well. :)

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  2. It is indeed the same material :) I buy this in large sheets, and cut them down. I keep some of the long row cover for my cabbage, broccoli and my recently planted carrots and spinach until the sprouts get strong enough to withstand some morning frosts.

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