Bagging Cherry Trees

When we bought our "little slice of heaven", we decided we did not want to use pesticides.  We wanted to grow healthy, organic fruit and vegetables.

The first spring we were here, we heard about the cherry fruit fly.  The adult emerges from the ground and lays its eggs on the cherries.  The maggots then live off the fruit until they turn into flies and winter in the ground to continue the cycle.

Many people around here just eat the cherries until the worms get too big and then the rest of the fruit is lost.  I thought "YUCK!"  I was not interested in eating worms of any size.

Spraying wasn't an option we wanted to use because we were told that it would be very costly since the flies can come over from the neighbouring trees and yards so we would have to spray repeatedly.  We also looked into organic sprays but none were found to be totally effective.

I did research on the internet and came across the following link that looked interesting. http://www.kootenaycovers.com/Kootenay_Covers_2010/Home.html   A bonus to me is that Kootenay Covers is a Canadian company right here is British Columbia.  (Yah! support local!)

We decided to order bags for our trees and have been using them to great success since then.  This is the third year we have used the bags and they are in as good shape as when we started.

They suggest that you install the bags when the fruit is just turning pink.  This year we covered the trees the long weekend in May because my hubby came home and we had help.  The fruit is just starting to form but the flowers have all been pollinated so it should be okay.

I wasn't able to get photos of the actual bagging process because I was helping.  Here we see a large bag on a very large tree.  It is getting easier each year because we have been pruning the tree smaller and shorter year by year.

Here the bag is being adjusted using long poles.  Last year, my son who is over six feet tall was here so we rolled up the bag and he climbed the tree and unrolled it.  I was on the ground with a long pole adjusting the bag.  Because the tree was so large, it actually worked better than trying to use the poles to get the bags over the tree.

After the bag is adjusted, you tie it to the trunk with bungee cords.  There are four side panels that are attached to the top square of the bag.  I pin these openings shut with safety pins so no bugs can work their way into the bag.

Here is the finished tree with all loose ends tucked in.  We keep the bags on until the cherries are ready to eat.  We then pick one tree completely before opening another bag.  We learned this the hard way the first year.  We uncovered a tree that was starting to get ripe and picked the ripe cherries.  We went on to other trees and when we came back to the first tree later, the cherries had worms.

The bags are a wonderful way to have tasty fruit without pesticides or "added protein".  The bag is made of a mesh material that allows sun and rain to penetrate.  They do not harm the trees at all.

We also found out that it is better to bag the trees earlier than later.  The first year we were here, we had bagged all the trees except one.  My hubby had to leave to help with a forest fire for a few days.  When he returned, we bagged the last tree.  But it was already too late, the flies had laid their eggs and the cherries were full of worms by the time we uncovered the tree and went to harvest the cherries.  How disappointing!  A whole tree of unusable fruit!

Dormant Spray

We spray our fruit trees and rose bushes in the spring with dormant oil spray.  The timing is tricky because you need to spray before the buds open so as to not damage the new leaves.  You do not want to spray when the blooms are out (some fruit trees bloom before they leaf out) because you can harm the bees.  On the other hand, you do not want to spray if the temperature is below 65F.  You also need a calm day with little or no wind.  And last but not least, you want the weather clear for at least 8 hours after you spray so the rain doesn't wash the spray off the trees. 

We use a combination of lime sulfur and horticulture oil that is considered organic.  Lime sulfur is a fungicide and also kills mites and insect eggs that have over-wintered on the tree or rose bush.  We follow the mixing proportions on the bottle. 

We sometimes use store-bought horticultural oil as well.  The oil smothers the eggs of insects such as aphids and leaf-rollers.  It also kills scale insects and mites.


Most of the time, however, we mix our own oil.  We use 1 Tbsp of cooking oil

And 1 tsp of dish detergent in a gallon of water.  We mix up the lime sulfur, oil, soap and water in correct proportions and pour into the sprayer.  You start at the top of the tree and spray all the bark on the branches and trunk.

The first year we used this sprayer but it was too small for the number of trees we have.  We wore ourselves out pumping.  You have to push the handle on top, up and down to build up pressure.  Plus it didn't hold very much so you wasted alot of time mixing.

Last year we used this sprayer.  It is carried on your back and has a longer handle so it is easier to pump up the pressure.  It holds more volume as well so you don't have to fill it as often.  The down side is the weight on your back while climbing up and down the ladder.

This year we got this sprayer.  It runs off a battery so no pumping.  Usually you would put it on your quad and drive around and spray.  We don't have a quad and it would be impossible to get to all the trees with a quad anyways.  The guys rigged up a board on the wheelbarrow for this year and it worked fine enough.  We are going to try to find a wagon that will hold the tank and we can pull it around the yard.  The pressure on this tank was great so very little ladder climbing was necessary.