Brown-bagging Granny Smith apples on trees stops codling moth damage

Abstract

In a 2-year study, thinning Granny Smith apples to one per cluster and covering them with brown paper bags when they were the size of a golf-ball resulted in significantly fewer fruits damaged by codling moth compared with fruits hand-thinned and left untreated. Sunburned fruit were also reduced both years by bagging, and fruit firmness and sweetness were improved in 1 of the 2 years. A similar experiment is now underway with Fuji apples.