Bagging Fruit

[From the sea]

never tried bagging my guavas i just close the eyes and eat to many fruit to bag them all

[fsanchez2002]

Can anyone help me with these questions:
1. Which bags should I use to protect guavas, loquats, etc from fruit flyes/maggots?
2. Where can I BUY these?
3. When/How to apply the bags in SoFLa?
Thanks!

[bsbullie]

Can anyone help me with these questions:
1. Which bags should I use to protect guavas, loquats, etc from fruit flyes/maggots?
2. Where can I BUY these?
3. When/How to apply the bags in SoFLa?
Thanks!

Organza bags.  Search ebay and amazon for best pricing.  Be sure to look at the sizes of the bags being offered and some are very small.

[ricshaw]

Some Dragon Fruit growers use paint strainer bags.

[GardenIslandGrower]

 If you have a lot of free time on your hands they're pretty easy to make as well. I cut up a bunch of old, thin, plain white T's and had the wifey sew them into a square pouch. Thread a draw string around the top edge and that's it. They work great and you can make custom sizes 

[Doglips]

I bought some fruit bags, essentially nylons from an apple group up north.  I soak the bags in Kaolin clay before protecting, actually almost that time to do it.   Some bugs will sting right through protection, but the clay will make a difference.

[gnappi]

I use white waxed paper bags like those you get cookies in at a bakery. I got mine at Wal Mart, but most bakeries will sell them to you too.

[bsbullie]

I use white waxed paper bags like those you get cookies in at a bakery. I got mine at Wal Mart, but most bakeries will sell them to you too.

How do you get air circulation through them?

[puglvr1]

What do you guys think of using a sheet of Frost cloth to cover the top of a small/med size Lychee tree to protect them from birds? I was looking at a 10x12ft frost cloth and thinking of draping it over most of the tree...should still let some light/sun and through it...

Any thoughts, draw backs? Good or bad idea?

Fsanchez, I've made some from window screen...


 

[gunnar429]

It's probably obvious, but the bags must be large enough for the mature-size fruit.  You will want to bag a papaya when the fruit is quite small, but unless the bag is large enough, it will not make it to fruition.  When bagging peaches, loquats, or guava, it's not really a problem, but for large mangoes, papaya, etc, you will need good-size bags

[Droshi]

Mango, papaya, dragon fruit...seems logical to use individual larger netted bags. But for smaller fruit, it seems easier to me to stretch some netting around your tree.

For me, I already had a greenhouse that I took the cover off of once spring hit, so I ended up leaving up the frame, and stretching netting around the whole thing. I'm not sure if you can see, but it wasn't too hard to do, and seems to keep the birds at bay:



I'll move fruit in as it starts to form, but anything in ground needs some netting on the tree itself (cherries/grape). I also have a fig tree, but I'm hoping that will attract most pests once it starts to bear this or next year, and I should have to protect less other fruit.

[nullzero]

I am using the Organza bags;

[fsanchez2002]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm going to start wtih maybe organza for the bigger fruits like loquats and just waxed paper bags for guavas... Any recommendation at what stage you're suppossed to put on the fruit?

[Samu]

What do you guys think of using a sheet of Frost cloth to cover the top of a small/med size Lychee tree to protect them from birds? I was looking at a 10x12ft frost cloth and thinking of draping it over most of the tree...should still let some light/sun and through it...

Any thoughts, draw backs? Good or bad idea?

Fsanchez, I've made some from window screen...


 

It isn't time for me to worry about yet, but probably will be soon as some of my trees start to bear some fruits.
I like your window screen idea, it's airy, seems pretty durable and looks simple enough to make them.
If this idea works, maybe I should start buying those oranges and collecting their nylon orange bags...

Is there a ready to purchase fruitbags out there in the market that meet our needs?

Thanks for posting that idea Pug, keep us updated, see if your fruit bags pass the test of time/weather and squirrels/birds attacks...

[FruitFreak]

Mosquito netting (fine mesh for noseeums) may do the trick.  I'm sewing custom bags for a trial run this year.  Hopefully the wasps can't sting through the fabric.

[Tropicaliste]

As the others said, organza. Go to a craft store like AC Moore or Michael's and look in the wedding shower aisle. They use them for party favor bags.

[gnappi]

I use white waxed paper bags like those you get cookies in at a bakery. I got mine at Wal Mart, but most bakeries will sell them to you too.

How do you get air circulation through them?

Small holes... Oh,  I almost forgot, I've never had a problem with scale or fruit fly with lemon or strawberry guava, just pink... I'm bagging some of my white varieties to see how well they do.

[Tropicalgrower89]

Just ordered a set of 200 organza bags for 26 bucks and free shipping on ebay.

[puglvr1]

Samu, I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but those window screening bags I made are not critter proof  ...but it has saved a lot of my fruits...I've lost about 20-30% of them to critters/varmints though...but saved majority of them so I can't complain too much. They are great for birds! I've not seen any birds so far chew through them 

Here's some of the horrible damages they've done to my mangoes...nothing is off limits to the critters in my yard...they attack completely green, semi-ripe and ripe fruits!!

[Samu]

Boy, it didn't take long for them to discover what's inside the bags... Yes, loosing 20-30% might not be too bad overall, but the fruiting season is not over yet, right?
Sorry to know that you were the "guinea pig" for this window screen experiment, Pug.

I wonder if Tropic89 (with his organza) and FruitFreak (mosquito netting) or anyone else have a better result with the materials they are using...(So, your updates would be valuable to many of us...).

I guess we still in need to search for different method or materials then; or finding an effective way to prevent those critters for coming to the fruits to begin with. In the past I used Havaheart traps, they worked well for the intended purpose, I caught mostly squirrels. My problem is, once trapped (usually occurred daily)  then I need to find a place to release them; so this could be another issue...