How Kootenay Covers Pay for Themselves and Save You Time

On this page we compare the cost to use traditional sprays to grow fruit without bugs vs the using a Kootenay Cover over a 10 year period of time. 

To grow fruit at home without bug or bird damage using traditional spraying and bird protection techniques here are a few of the annual expenses you can expect:

Insecticide for one 12 ft diameter tree - 10 X $25 = $250.00

One Backpack pump sprayer - $110.00

One 25' X 25' bird netting with 3/4" holes per year - $25.00 X 10 =$250.00

Time to mix spray, spray the tree, clean sprayer - 2 hours X 8 applications in a season X 10 seasons X $15.00 per hour = $2400.00

Totals:  $610 for sprayer, chemicals and bird netting, $2,760 if you include your labor

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Price for one 12 X 12 X 12 foot Kootenay cover = $250.00 including shipping and sales tax

One set of four PVC 10 ft poles and a two cans of tennis balls = $50

Labor to put on the cover 10 times and remove it 10 times = (30 minute install + 15 minute removal)  X 4 people X $15/hr X 10 seasons = $450

The investment in the Kootenay cover costs less than just the spray materials for a 10 year period. If you compare the cost of labor and materials to spray vs the materials to put on and remove the covers, spraying costs about $2760 vs installing and removing the covers at about $500.

The cover pays for itself in the first year and saves you thousands of dollars over a typical 10 year life span of the cover. 

In addition to protecting your fruit from worms or maggots, the cover protects your fruit every year from birds, wind, hail, sunburn, and many animal pests. Spraying alone does not protect your fruit from any of these.