I have a zoo at my place at the moment or a bird sanctuary at least. Between the Rainbow Lorikeets, Galahs, and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, everyone is getting a feed of my yummy fruit.
So to stop the little blighters getting at my still unripe Jonathan apples, I used some exclusion bags to protect them. Have a look at this video to see how I am protecting apples using exclusion bags.
I used these last year with much success. I believe that the theory is out of sight out of mind. If the birds can’t see fruit, then they don’t attack the exclusion bags. You can tie them closed with cotton twine, twist ties, or even rubber bands.
Certainly beats netting the entire tree and is a great organic method of protecting fruit from codling moth and birds!
I approach protecting apples in a different way – my birds seem to get a great delight in cutting off nearly the whole branch, not just the fruit, and just LOVE nibbling and dropping the baby fruit. So I went for BIG nets in a fine weave. Having espaliared trees helps, but I also do it over my standards http://bit.ly/15RcdOK
I am just getting into the idea of exclusion bags….do you have a preferred material? i.e. calico/mesh???? I would like to be able to reuse the bags if possible or even make my own?