Doug Kanter wrote:

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...

Hi Persephone,

Apple growers seem to be divided into two camps, organic and the rest
of
us. I am
not a strict organic guy. I have seen the results of other hobbyist
apple
growers, who try to be organic, and I find the results disappointing.
They
are content with losing a portion of their crop, whereas, I want to
preserve
as much as I can. I use a combination of spraying and organic methods
(sticky
balls, traps, etc.). In my area,
these organic methods are not enough to fully protect the fruit. I don't
feel
my health
is endangered by spraying, when using certain precautions.
One is to stop
spraying a few weeks before harvest to give the sun time to burn off the
chemicals and the wind
and rain to do a similar job. As a secondary precaution, I wash all my
fruit
with a mild
soap solution. Do I remove the chemicals 100 per cent? Probably not, but
the
residue
is very small. The chemicals do not penetrate the skin, so if it still of
concern, you can peel the skin off before eating.

I don't know what you spray with, but as the web sites indicate, some
products are systemic, so you can wash your apples all day long and you
won't get rid of those chemicals. And, sun, wind & rain won't do a thing,
either.

You are definitely wrong about the sun, wind, & rain. It's a question of
quantity,
and I specifically said that the residue remaining would not be
significant. We
ingest much more junk into our bodies by just breathing our poluted air. If
you
wanted to be safe, you would become another 'bubble boy', who was locked
into a completely controlled environment because of his poor immune system.
If you define organic to something that grows naturally, you may want to
think
about Wolfsbane, Death Angel Mushrooms, Marijuana, Hemlock, Foxglove,
Mandrake, Poison Sumac, etc. I am not suggesting these are used on apples,
but I am just using that as an illustration for comparison.



I don't grow fruit trees, but I seem to recall reading about the idea of
using a material similar to floating row cover to completely wrap dwarf
trees.

It's called 'Surround'. It is a disgusting powder that covers your fruit. I
have tried
it and it doesn't do the job. It's a pain to apply, and an even greater pain
to clean off
after harvest. Surround is primarily made of Kaolin, a clay substance. I
checked on
the potential problems of ingesting clay on a medical website and they claim
the
following: "Clay or dirt eating has been associated with lead poisoning in
infants, children,
and pregnant women, with potential risks such as low red blood cell count and
brain damage.
Clay or dirt eating has been associated with lead poisoning in infants,
children, and pregnant
women, with potential risks such as low red blood cell count and brain
damage." Seems
like this organic spray has potential detrimental effects, as well.

Unfortunately, the organic sprays have a long way to go to approach
the effectiveness of chemical sprays. I am experimenting with covering the
apples
with zip lock bags and mesh nets. It seems to be working nicely, but it is
an extremely
labor intensive approach, and only practical in protecting a small percentage
of my
apples.



Obviously, this won't address fungus problems, but it should
certainly help with some of the bugs. Have you explored this idea?