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Growing Organic Apple Trees, Part II

by Bill Brikiatis

Updated: January 21, 2020

In part one in this series, I wrote about how to use footlets to prevent insects from wreaking havoc when growing organic apple trees. Ted Swensen from the Home Orchard Society probably was the first person to think of this idea.

Now he’s taken this good idea one step further.

Swensen got the idea for using footlets to protect the fruit from apple maggots and codling moths while watching his girlfriend try on shoes.  

I’d probably be thinking about growing apples too – anything but shoes – when my wife is shoe shopping ;).

Let’s take a sec to get the legal words out of the way. This article may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and buy from my partners, I will make a tiny amount of money at no cost to you. This in no way affects my recommendations.

I use footlets to protect against apple or plum curculio. It works pretty well. The trick is to get the footlet on early enough because curculio strikes when the apples are pretty small. When the footy is on, the curculio doesn’t much seem interested in laying eggs in the apple.

Dipping footlets in Surround

Organic Apple Trees
Increase protection by adding OMRI-listed Surround to footlets to organic apple trees.

Swensen came up with the idea to increase protection by dipping the footlets in Surround®, an OMRI-listed crop protectant.

It’s made with kaolin clay that is frequently used to reduce sunburn and heat stress on various crops. It also protects against bugs because they don’t like the taste or getting it on their feet (if they have feet).

It’s safe for beneficial insects and doesn’t seem to bother pollinators. It would be a great cure all except that rain washes it off, which limits effectiveness.

Organic apple trees benefit from both

Swensen got the bright idea to try dipping footies in Surround and, sure enough, it increased effectiveness against codling moth. Here is his step-by-step description of how he uses Surround with footies.

You can buy Surround Garden Protectant here.

Related articles that might interest you:

  1. Growing Organic Apple Trees
  2. Nine Guidelines for Pruning Apple Trees
  3. My Pruning Apple Trees Mistake

Suburban Hobby Farmer is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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Filed Under: 2. Intermediate -- A Little Difficult to Complete, Apples

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Meet the Blogger

Bill Brikiatis

Hello! I’m Bill Brikiatis. I started this website in 2010 to help you get better at growing organic food in your backyard.

I’ve been growing fruits and vegetables for nearly all my life. And I'm over 60.

That’s not to say that I don’t make mistakes. I make plenty, then I write about them so both you and I get better at growing great things to eat.

You can read more about me and Suburban Hobby Farmer on my about page.

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