Welcome to Sprayers 101
Sprayers 101 is a non-profit resource describing best practices in safe, efficient and effective agricultural spraying. The site is based in Canada with content freely contributed by international authors. Browse our library of articles, videos, presentations, apps, calculators, tables and ePubs.
Our most recent articles:
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Clean Your Nozzles
When operators winterize their sprayers, they should remove all the tips and store them separately. Many store them in large pails with lids. Calibrating the sprayer just prior to winterizing will indicate if the nozzles should be stored, or replaced. Let’s assume each tip flow rate is within 5% of the average output and no more than 5% […]
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Spray Drift Basics
This article is intended as a basic overview of what pesticide spray drift is and how to avoid it. If you want a more in-depth study of the physics of drift, head over here. Defining Drift Pesticide spray drift is the aerial movement, and unintentional deposit, of pesticide outside the target area. Aside from being […]
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Optics on Airblast Sprayers – What they can’t see
“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
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Off-Label Spraying: A Lose-Lose Situation
Submitted by Dustin Morton, Commercial Horticulture Specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Horticultural chemicals and pesticides often have the dubious distinction of being more expensive than their field crop cousins. In order to reduce costs, growers may sometimes buy and use chemicals which have the same active ingredient, but are not registered for the crop […]
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Debunking Sprayer Myths
Reproduced from an article written by Angela Lovell for Grainews, 2014 “The fundamental challenge of spraying is that it’s a compromise game,” said Tom Wolf of Agrimetrix Research and Training. “As operators and advisors we need to always balance the opposite needs of coverage, efficacy and drift.” Wolf, in a presentation at the recent Manitoba […]
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Four Rules of Nozzle Selection
Nozzle choice can be overwhelming due to the large selection available from many suppliers. But nozzles are the most important part of the sprayer, being responsible for metering the liquid, atomizing it into droplets, and distributing it across the boom. Review this list for what’s available, then follow these general recommendations. 1. Choose a Coarse […]