Remember my post about
using footies and kaolin clay to prevent insect damage? Well, it's late August and for the first time since I planted my apple tree 15 years ago, I've got an entire tree full of beautiful apples. About six apples have fallen over the season, most of them had obvious damage from codling moths. Those are pretty good odds given that I have about 100 apples on the tree right now.
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| You can barely see the nylon footies. They've stretched with the growth of the apples. |
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| The Liberty tree in full glory and groaning with the weight of apples. |
The keys to success were:
- Begin applying Kaolin clay immediately at 80% petal fall.
- Keep applying the clay as it wears off with wind or rain until the apples are the size of nickels.
- Once the apples have reached the appropriate size, thin them to one per bunch and then apply the footies.
It's labor intensive but it is organic and it produces beautiful apples.
