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Posted by David Hare-Scott on January 27, 2008, 10:17 pm
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> > well we've been trying to join you, but having a few problems & having to
> > eat the peaches not-quite-ripe! it is a bit frustrating. something is
> > stinging the fruits so they have brown rotting patches as they ripen.
still,
> > the edible remainders are pretty good. those which don't have fruit-fly,
> > that is ;-) i was also getting mad at the birds for getting into them,
until
> > dh pointed out that the birds aren't causing nearly as much damage as the
> > bugs are. good point.
> >
> > i'm hoping that next year we'll be having more fruit with fewer problems
> > (getting informed might help, eh.)
> > enjoy your peaches!
> > kylie
> >
> >
>
> Kylie, I wonder if making muslin drawstring bags to hang around the
> fruits might work? Muslin would allow the light and air in to swell the
> fruits, but would keep out all but the tiniest of creatures. You'd
> probably have to put the bags on while the fruits were still small and
> green: that is, before the insects got a whiff of them.
>
> I dunno... I've never grown stone fruits, but it might work?
>
> Do you have a Spotlight nearby? They keep muslin of different weights
> and also some of the sew-in interfacings would do just as well.
>
> --
> Trish Newcastle, NSW, Australia
We tried paper bags this year. The organic growers society recommended them
as they are cheap and you use no insecticide. The idea is you bag the fruit
just after it sets and it keeps out the fruit fly, birds and bats. I was
sceptical but the bags last fairly well, only now are they starting to rot and
fall off having been on for 4 months, with much rain in that time.
As for keeping out the vermin, two out of three might be good for some
purposes but not this one. We have no fly or bird loss. The bats however are
no respecter of paper bags. They are smart enough to drop by and check on the
bags from time to time as the fruit develops - they know there is fruit in
there. As soon as their cute little noses tell them it is ripe their cute
little teeth go straight through the bag and into the fruit. Bless their
little fructivorous instincts.
So we have just bought a roll of netting and I will be constructing polypipe
igloos over the winter to hold the net. Hopefully next year we will get all
the fruit instead of about one quarter.
We had some cheapo nets as a stop gap but as expected they didn't last. While
releasing one of our cute little furry guests I got to check out his cute
little toothy pegs. Don't let anyone tell you that only carnivores have
dangerous teeth. In proportion to their size a bat has teeth better than a
cat or dog and needle sharp. After they have been in a net for a few hours
they will bite anything that comes into range.
So I don't know if cloth bags will work if you have bats. Have you though of
knitting them out of barbed wire?
David
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