There’s a certain deer-in-headlights expression that creeps onto a sprayer operator’s face when we discuss nozzle selection. We sympathize with our field sprayer clients given the variety of brands, styles, flow rates and spray qualities they must choose from. And PWM has made the process even more complex. However, airblast operators face an additional challenge; Unlike […]
Did you come here looking for advice on which sprayer is best for your small operation? Are you looking to ditch the backpack mist blower? Do you want to avoid repeatedly mounting and dismounting a 3-pt hitch sprayer from your only tractor? Are you concerned you’ll have to sell an organ to be able to […]
“Precision agriculture” is many things to many people. In the context of spraying, let’s define it as “detecting and responding to variability”. One example of precision ag is the use of crop-sensing optics to efficiently and accurately direct spray application. This is nothing new to field sprayer operators, but did you know that before Ken […]
Read More… from Optics on Airblast Sprayers – What they can’t see
In 1977, David Shelton and Kenneth Von Bargen (University of Nebraska) published an article called “10-1977 CC279 Gear Up – Throttle Down”. It described the merits of reducing tractor rpm’s for trailed implements that didn’t need 540 rpm to operate. In 2001 (republished in 2009), Robert Grisso (Extension Engineer with Virginia Cooperative Extension) described the […]
Establishing an airblast nozzling solution is an involved process. We must first define the working parameters and flush out any special circumstances. Then we use an iterative approach to identify suitable nozzle combinations that require minimal changes to the sprayer. This article outlines my process step-by-step and then applies it to a hypothetical orchard scenario. […]