No-climb Tarp Draping Systems Save Time and Money

By Marcia Miquelon, Outreach Specialist
UW Madison Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project

“It is much faster than tarping from on top of the load,” remarked Tim Power of Laws Nursery in Hastings, MN about his no-climb tarp draping system. “I used to run out to the field and steal the digging crew to come and help me tarp. You might use as many as 4-6 people on a windy day. Now it’s a two-person job. Just the trucker and one nursery worker.” Even a moderate wind of 12 mph can start to lift a tarp and gusts often make the job more difficult to do.

For nurseries that use tarps to cover plants in open trucks, no-climb tarp draping systems offer a safer and more efficient alternative to climbing onto the truck or load. In no-climb systems the tarp may be pulled over the load by two workers using extension poles, or rolled out from an attachment behind the cab of the truck, or pulled over the load using a skid-steer attachment, or suspended and then dropped over the load from four flagpoles.

Depending upon the system, the job of tarping a truck can be done by as few as 1-2 workers, decreasing labor costs. Also, using a tarp-draping system makes the job go faster and saves labor hours.

No-climb tarp draping systems not only increase efficiency, they also make your nursery a safer place to work. Climbing onto trucks to pull a tarp over a load puts nursery workers in danger of falling. Workers lifted high into the air while standing in the bucket of a skid steer or on the arms of a forklift or nursery jaws are at an even greater risk. . Jumping down from the truck bed hurts knees. No-climb systems allow workers to tarp trucks with two feet safely on the ground, and may reduce medical or workman’s compensation costs.

While tarp draping systems cost between fifty and two thousand dollars, they can quickly pay for themselves. Growers recoup costs as the systems cut down on labor hours, reduce risks of worker injury, and lessen the risk of damaging plants.

“It’s much easier on the trees too,” noted Power, “you are not rolling this 50 or 100-pound tarp over the tops of these brand new growing trees.” Brian Richardson of Winterland Nursery in Oregon, WI echoed his sentiments adding “you are not jumping on the trailer, climbing through the trees breaking branches.”

Each tarp-draping system is geared for slightly different needs. A tip sheet called “No-climb truck tarping systems” at the Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project’s website (bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/) describes several types, their cost, where to get them, and how you can make one yourself from a couple of paint rollers and two fiberglass extension poles.

For more information about standard containers and other work efficiency tools, contact the Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits project at the University of Wisconsin, Madison: (608) 262-1054, or visit their web site at http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/.

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