City Fruit is providing free Pest Prevention Packs to Seattle 
apple tree owners in Wallingford. What is a Pest Prevention Pack? 25 lightly waxed paper bags, 25 twist ties, and an instruction sheet. As part of their Save Seattle’s Apples campaign, City Fruit wants you to use these organic pest barriers to cover your dime-sized apples this spring so you’ll have worm-free apples next fall.
Covering apples is an easy and effective way to foil insect pests like codling moth and apple maggot without using harmful chemical sprays.
In 2014, City Fruit harvested nearly 28,000 pounds of fresh, edible fruit and donated the majority to Seattle’s emergency food system. During the same harvest season, City Fruit composted over 12,000 pounds of fruit, primarily apples, that had fallen to the ground due to insect damage or poor tree care. Through neighborhood outreach and education throughout the month of May, City Fruit hopes to cut in half the amount of collected fruit that ends up in yard waste during the 2015 harvest season, and as a result have more quality fruit to donate to food banks, shelters, and feeding programs.
City Fruit 
will be holding several events in Wallingford in May as part of their Save Seattle’s Apples campaign. Learn how to protect your own apple trees at events at the Good Shepherd Center orchard, Meridian Playground and the Burke-Gilman Trail. All events are free.
The first event is on Mother’s Day, at the Good Shepherd Center main parking lot orchard. City People’s Garden Stores is sponsoring a free pest management class from noon to 2 pm. Register here.
Free Pest Prevention Packs are available now for pick up at two Wallingford locations: Tweedy and Popp in the Wallingford Center and Stoneway Hardware at 44th and Stone Way N. Organic, pesticide-free, and Mom-approved.
Don’t forget two Save Seattle’s Apples events in Wallingford this weekend.
Saturday, 5/16, noon – 3 pm. Meet at the Burke-Gilman Trail and west of I-5, or 555 NE Pacific Street if you need an address. We’ll space the baby apples, then cover them with crisp white paper bags to keep the worms out.
Same activity on Sunday, 5/17 from 10 am to 1 pm – City Fruit Family Day at Meridian Playground. Meet near the playground and we’ll help protect the apples there, too. Save Seattle’s Apples so we can donate more to our hungry neighbors next fall.
I saw trees covered in bags with signs “my apples are covered”. Where are the bags from? My tree has apple maggots and I’ll do better next year.