When to Install the Kootenay Covers?

To protect the fruit from the bugs, the Kootenay Covers need to be placed over the tree before the bugs arrive in the spring. The arrival date for the pests depends on the type of pest and your local weather.

Unlike spraying, which must be timed precisely to be most effective, the covers can be placed on the tree well in advance of the arrival of the bugs. The covers remain at peak effectiveness night and day for months, unlike sprays. Putting the covers on a week or two early is fine. Putting them on a day or two late is not good.

Ideally, the sequence goes like this:

Blossoms bloom on the tree. Bees and other pollinators arrive in the tree and pollinate the blossoms. Blossom petals fall from the tree. Tiny fruits begin to form.

You put the covers on the trees. The actual date to put the covers on varies depending on your location, your elevation, the type of fruit you are covering, etc.

The fruit starts to grow.

The bugs show up. They cannot get through the covers.