Apple Maggot Barriers
We don’t have apple maggot flies in the Inland Northwest, which is great. But there are apple maggot barriers you can purchase that also help with apple codling moth, which we do have.
The barriers look like those little nylon footies for trying on new shoes at shoe stores.
These barriers help keep a clay-like substance that has been sprayed on the young apples. And they increase its effectiveness. They create an un-apple-like surface to fool the moth. What’s more, the barriers hold more of the clay on the apple to thwart the larvae. A few years ago, we skipped using the barriers and only used kaolin clay. Unfortunately, we had significantly more codling moth damage as a result. On the bright side, it helped us realize how effective those barriers are!
I have never seen the apple maggot barriers for sale in garden centers. Fortunately, we can easily order them from online sources. The two that I recommend are maggotbarriers.com and seattletreefruitsociety.com.
For more information on the timing of applying the footies, please refer to my blog post, Growing apples organically – 2017.