I was over at gardenweb reading many of the forums on specific fruits that we also have in addition to figs, and this dude zips up his apples and pears to prevent worms.  So I did a web search and found this nice article from Daves Garden.

Do you think this would work for ripening figs we'd like to protect?  Seems pretty easy, and cheap too.  The nylon bags didn't deter anything last year, so I may try the ziplocks.

Do any of you have experience with this method?

Thanks!
Suzi

We used to hang zip lock bags full of water to keep flys etc out of shop and it worked. We hung one by every doorway. The bug sees itself in water and leaves because the image is much larger then them and feel threatened. AS FAR AS PUTTING ZIP LOCK OVER FRIUT i tried this last year and cooked the fruit from hot louisiana heat WE hit the 100's during summer often everyday. Not sure about your area but we have 100% humidity so it just steams the figs and they die.

Ritchie

Suzi,

I tried the bags in Houston many years ago.  The birds still managed to get into two of them

 

Those the birds didn't get into got mushy because of moisture condensation on the inside of the plastic bags.

I would think whatever you used would need air circulation.

I was thinking of making little wire baskets this year that could be clipped on and reused often.

Ambitious, Gina!  Wire baskets?  How would you do that? 

I think the dude cuts a slice in the zip lock for air circulation, and I know people use raspberry baskets from the grocery store to snap over figs.  I just know whatever critters we have here have zero respect for those nylon tie bags.  They chew right through.......... 

Critters  Sigh

I did this last year. You cut the corners off the bag for circulation. It worked for birds, but not for squirrels. It did not cook them here in Philadelphia.

We hit continues 100 degrees with 100 % humidity
i will give it,ago on a few figs just to see. But one fig tree has 100's of figs. How do you do this. Just seems in possible.

Richard, if one tree has hundreds of figs, you should have plenty to share with birds and assorted critters. 

I'm mainly concerned about the fig trees only a couple years old with figs that I have never been able to enjoy.  My Verte is loaded, and I'll gladly share, but don't mess with my MaryLane Seedless, Bourjasotte Gris, Adriatic, Hardy Chicago, Marseilles Vs Black, etc!!

There is rarely humidity here in dry Southern California, so that's not a worry here, at least in my climate, but California has a gazillion micro-climates, so there are hot-humid areas in the state for sure.  Our car broke down in a Northern California town called Willows.  OMG!  It's so hot and humid there, they have rice paddy''s!!

Suzi

The best thing I find to deter birds is "bird netting".  
Same netting I use to protect my seedless grapes from the birds.   Low cost and easy to use.  Just drape it over the tree.  The netting is designed to protect grape rows from birds so they are 12' or more wide and as long as you want.
Even if the bird lands on the net they can't go through to get to the figs under the foliage. 
If one sneaks under the net they will be so stressed that eating is the last thing on their mind...LOL

I don't see why a flimsy ziploc bag would be better than those nylon organza bags for critter deterrence.  The organza bags I have are much harder to tear/rip/damage than a ziplop bag. 

What about making bags out of wire screen mesh or something similarly heavy duty? 

Rob, I wish I took photos of the rips and bite marks in the organza bags last year.  I even bought dark green thinking whatever pest came along would think it was a leaf or something, but those critters have a sense of smell.  You are probably right about the zip locks.  I guess we are all doomed to share.........

Suzi

Suzi what about inclosing whole tree in bird
net top and bottom. .

It could be done, but we use our netting for our vineyard, and we do buy the best and it's Expensive!  We purchase it in a group wholesale and it's still very costly!  It comes in big rolls 12' across, so we aren't excited to cut it up for little fig trees.  We messed up a bunch of it trying to cover our persimmon.  It got ripped really bad.  Fig trees are softer at picking time, but the vines and persimmon do a number on the net.  Vines have these curls that try to secure everything they hit to the vine.  The nets get tangled.

All our trees are in-ground.  I just want to isolate a few figs on young trees so I can try them for the first time.  Once the trees get big and loaded with many figs, I'll just share with the critters.  There's only two of us, and figs don't keep.  They are best fresh from the tree.  JD, at the moment is putting rebar into the ring of 4'tall chicken wire some critter tromped on to get at the Persimmons last year.  He's hoping the rebar will keep the chicken wire up, so we can just cover the top with net.  We only have one persimmon, and many grapes and figs.

I'm wondering what the birds will do with the Pakistan mulberries.  It's their first year for berries.  NOTHING touches our Anna Apples.  The apples are perfect with a touch of blush appears and they are mostly green.  If we let them go red, MUSHY!  Maybe critters are waiting for red? 

I'll probably stick with the blueberry/raspberry containers.

Wish Gina or Rob would share a EASY way to make a cage in some kind of wire mesh.  6 cages per tree would be enough for me.  A cone maybe?  Closed with duck tape?

Suz

Now we have to find wire mesh that's easy to cut.  Think I solved it all for Gina and Rob.  Cut the mesh in a circle.  Cut a straight cut into the middle.  Fold into quarters and snip off the center so the stem will have room.  Take it out to the fig. Wrap the cone around the fig stem and seal the wide part and the seam with duck tape. 

Show me some mesh that's easy to cut!!

Suzi

It accord to me that maybe for a netted cage you might be able to use the net pots used for rooting in the cloners.

I drive those semi low cost, U channel, steel fence post into the ground, and you do not need the big ones to do this. Then I set a 2x4 or simular piece of wood next to it and screw it in place. Now I have wood post as high as eight feet and from there I can form a lattice of rope from pole to pole, and use it to support the netting. I do the pole thing for my pole beans too. Set a couple up and stretch fence fabric or string between them and let the beans climb. I do this for my Tomatoes too. The steel post are easier to drive into my tough rocky soil.

Desert Dance, use tin snips to cut the mesh. Use 1/8" hardware cloth as the mesh. I also saw bird netting is available at Home Depot. Just Google "Bird Netting" to find sources

Beyman, do you have a link for the net pots used for rooting in the cloners?  You are speaking Greek to me on that one.  Cloners?  Net Pots? 

My name should be LazySuzi.  LOL!

 They are always being discussed on this forum.  Hydroponic stores sell them. They are available at Amazon. Here is a couple links with pictures

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=hydroponic+net+pot&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=3480524676&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_66an3isjm3_b

https://www.hydroponics.net/c/166 

http://www.ecogrow.com/potscontainers-net-cups-net-pots-c-119_120.html

Hey Suzi. Sorry to hear about your fig loss to those scoundrels. Bird neting is about $7 per roll at the Home Depot. You could also buy PVC tubing and tees to build a cage pretty easily. It should be fairly light to move also. Check out videos of how to build a PVC bird cage on YouTube .
Oh and by the way Arthur speaks pure English. This would be the Greek version" γλαςτρες από δίχτυα και κλώνο μηχανές " lol.
Sorry I couldn't resist!!!

ChrisK!  YOU BE BAD!  Did you use Babblefish for that translation?  Great idea about the PVC Tubing.  We may use it here and there.  JD was at Home Depot this afternoon looking at chain saws.  Why?  Cuz we have these huge pine groves on site that we love, but need to be limbed up. 

@Bevman, I'll check into those net cups.  I don't read the hydroponic threads here because I live in a Mediterranean climate, so no need for that.  But if those things work, I'll use Smile.Amazon.com to buy them so Jon gets his 3 cents worth.  Thanks for the links.  JD already spent hours doing the rebar around the Persimmon, but he saw the light when I read him what you said about the U channel with 2 x 4's attached and the rope thing....  He just already did the work.  Good info too late.  Another year.  Thanks for that too!

Edit to say I did check the links.  I have no idea how those cups would work.  How do you seal the open end, and how do you get it over the fig.  I think you have to cut it to slip it over the fig, and then seal with duck tape, but that huge open end?  What do you do with that?

Suzi

I used medium sized (intermediate between sandwich size and gallon size) ziplocks for grapes a couple years ago.  I stapled the opening around the stem of the grape bunch and cut holes in the corners for water drainage (more of a problem here than southern CA).  It saved my grapes from birds but I did lose a few from rot.  The next year I used the organza bags and liked them better because they were easier to put on the grape bunches and kept the bunches a bit drier (thus little or no rot).  Neither will protect against racoons (or probably a determined squirrel) though.

So, how little are those "little figs" anyway?   I have some large old beach umbrellas sitting in my garage.  I've been thinking of removing the fabric and using the umbrella ribs to hold bird netting above my smaller fruit trees.  That way I won't need to fuss with twigs snagging the netting.  

My theory is:

I'll just push my naked folded umbrella vertically up through the center of the canopy until I can open the umbrella (if I can't lower the open umbrella from above the canopy)

fix it to a stand

throw the netting on top of the ribs

etc...

Since I live on the coast of So Cal  I see sales on beach umbrellas every June.  If the old bumpershoots work well, I may sacrifice a few new ones too.

I think my pet blue jay may be very p. o'd with me this summer.

Tim Zone 10a

Tim. That is such a good idea. That would work very well. I am going to try to inclose the bottom too with netting to wRd off squirrels too along with my 410 / mac 90. Lol