Thank you so much for this tutorial! We have 5 apple trees and 2 pears which mostly go unpicked. The addition of the sleeve with really help us, I think. Plus they are expensive in the store!
I noticed in your white basket you've got the same greyish stuff we get on our apples. What is it and is there any way to prevent it? I'm assuming ours is from humidity. It usually washes off but it's made me hesitant to try selling them at markets.
@phedizzle. You're welcome. The greyish stuff is called sooty blotch. It will wash off typically. You can read about it here Like you said, it will wash off and it's not harmful at all.
Guilty! Neglected underpruned trees! Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the link! Bookmarked! We had a horrible case of a variety of fungal diseases on our apples last year. We've got a pear tree in horrible need of pruning, too.