Protect fruit from apple maggots and codling moths

Though I grow 41 varieties of apples, some years I have very few apples to harvest. It is not because of poor fruit set but because apple maggot flies destroy most of them.

At last there is an effective way to prevent apple maggot damage. I call it the apple sock.

My friend Ted Swensen puts "footies," those stretchy little nylon socks you find in shoe stores for trying on shoes, over young apples as a barrier to apple maggots and codling moths.

HOW TO USE THEM: Slide a footie over one unblemished apple per cluster (choose an apple with a thick stem) about mid-May this year, while thinning fruit, before codling moths lay eggs. Pick off the rest of the cluster.

Thin fruit and attach footies in mid-May. Keep just one fruit per cluster. The "king" apple is often the largest, but look for a fruit with a strong, thick stem because thin stems are more vulnerable to fruit drop. Pinch carefully to close footie; leave some slack for growth.

Ted says: "Footies have no elasticity, that is, once they stretch they do not resume their previous shape. I slide the nylon footie onto my little finger -- then bunching the nylon (like putting on a sock), I slide it over the apple (fruit or fruitlet). Do no extra stretching. Stretching happens as you apply the footie to the fruit. I then slip the nylon at least half to three-quarters of the nylon length onto the apple, pear or Asian pear."

It takes about 15 to 18 seconds to apply a single footie, or from 72 to 86 minutes per bag of 288 footies. Thinning the other fruit takes additional time.

Be sure to slide the footie far enough over the fruit or the fruits' shoulders may be exposed to pests. Pinch the footie's top edges against the stem. It will not come off.

As the fruit grows, the nylon mesh stretches enough to allow enough sunlight to color up the fruit.

AFTER HARVEST: Gently rinse footies in plain water and allow to dry. Use a little mild soap (no detergent) if necessary. Ted says that about 50 percent will shrink enough to reuse.

WHY FOOTIES WORK: The apple maggot fly smells the fruit, finds it visually, then lands and inspects it to see whether anything has laid eggs yet. Apple maggot flies don't recognize wrapped apples as fruit.

Codling moths lay eggs on a leaf near the fruit. The egg hatches into a larva 72 hours later and takes about another 72 hours to get to the fruit. The first generation attempts entry through the calyx, or flower, end. In early to mid-September, the second generation attempts entry anywhere there is fruit exposed. The footie seems to be a combination of physical barrier and irritant.


Order footies from, or by mail from Ted Swensen (make out the check to the Home Orchard Society), 9325 S.W. Third Ave., Portland, OR 97219. $20 for a sack of 288 includes shipping and handling.

-- Vern Nelson;