I want to share an old time formula for helping to keep worms out of apples without the spraying. There will still be afew worms but if you are diligent year after year and keep the wind falls picked up, it works better and better each year. In a cleaned gallon milk jug put 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of vinegar and a banana peel. Fill the jug to 3/4 full with water and mix until the sugar is disolved. Hang in tree before it blooms. One jug to a small tree and 2 jugs to a larger tree. I can surely see a difference and hope you can too.

-- Jean (kjean@i-rule.net), April 05, 2001

Answers

I am very interested in organic ways to raise fruit and nuts but I have to admit I don't understand this one. How does fillng a milk jug with this stuff and hanging it in a tree have any impact on worms. Am I missing something here?

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), April 05, 2001.

Are the flies are attracted to the mixture and drown in it? Sounds like a good cheap alternative to sticky traps, which are way overpriced.

On a related issue, we tried sheep in our orchard to clean up windfalls - sounded like a good idea when we read it. It was a DISASTER - the sheep much preferred apple bark to windfall apples!

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), April 05, 2001.

Yes, David, the flies are attracted to the mixture in the jug, fly in and drown themselves. We leave the jug attached to the tree all summer long. We are in zone 5 and I am just now accumulating the stuff to put in the trees. Hope it works for you.

-- Jean (kjean@i-rule.net), April 05, 2001.

David, From what I understand, if you want sheep or goats or cattle in an orchard, you can put fencing around the trunks. Just make sure the holes are too small to get their noses through.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@seedlaw.com), April 05, 2001.

Jean, Thanks for the idea--I'll try it this spring and let you know how it works. I'm in zone 5 also, and they will be blooming soon. Thanks again! Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), April 05, 2001.

Thanks Jean, I'll try this too. I make cheap sticky balls by painting bright red paint over styrofoam balls. Let dry, stick a wire through the ball , smear Tangletrap (I just read it comes in a spray now) on it and hang in trees. Here in NW WI the apple maggot flies start coming out of the ground about July 1, so just before that I start hanging them up.

-- Peg in NW WI (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), April 06, 2001.