Sprayers101 Archive
Search our archive of expert-written, data-driven analysis of spraying techniques, equipment, strategies, and more.
Should Backpack Sprayers be Used to Test Airblast Products? – Part 1
Peer-reviewed journal publications claim there is a significant difference in spray coverage and deposition patterns when an agrichemical product is applied using an airblast…
Three Features that Should be Standard on all Sprayers
One of my main activities in the winter is public speaking. Attending producer meetings gives me the privilege of meeting many farmers, learning about…
Spray Drift – Why is it still happening?
Despite the abundance of information available on spray drift, we continue to see widespread incidents of damage to a variety of crops every year.…
Sprayers Haiku 2017
In 2016 we asked the Twitterverse to play along as we wrote sprayer poems in the form of haiku. The response was tremendous and…
Canopy Management for Improved Airblast Coverage
Managing the canopy of any perennial crop (e.g. pruning, hedging, leaf stripping, etc.) is an important consideration. The benefits are manifold: It affects the…
Boom Collisions on Twitter
An interesting technology recently came to our attention. The Horsch BoomSight detects potential obstacles and as the sprayer passes it raises the boom to…
Does Higher Pressure Increase Spray Penetration?
A very common question we hear at sprayer demonstrations is: “I want to drive the spray deeper into the canopy – does higher pressure…
Spray Equipment From the 2016 Great Lakes EXPO
Michigan’s Great Lakes EXPO is a massive horticultural convention that draws international speakers and more than 4,000 attendees to Grand Rapids every December. Like…
Selecting a Field Sprayer Nozzle
This article is reproduced, with permission, from Ohio State University Extension’s factsheet FABE-528. Although nozzles are some of the least expensive components of a sprayer,…
Steps to Calibrate your Field Sprayer
Calibrating a boom sprayer is not as difficult as it sounds. There are several ways to calibrate a sprayer. Regardless of which method you…
How to evaluate airblast coverage
Note: While there’s nothing wrong with this article, a more recent article on this subject can be found here. It’s nearing the end of…
The Sprayer Operator – The Most Important Factor in Spraying
Spray application is one of the most important activities regularly done in any crop operation. It can also be one of the most expensive and…
Evaluating an Anti-Drift Adjuvant in an Airblast Sprayer
Most pesticides are either pre-formulated with the required adjuvants, or the label specifies their addition. However, compelling claims by manufacturers create interest in tank mixing additional adjuvants…
How to Assess Spray Coverage in Vegetable Crops
Sprayer operators recognize the importance of matching their sprayer settings to the crop to optimize efficacy. For example, spraying a protective fungicide in field…
Continuous Rinsing should be considered in North America
Overview This article expands on an earlier article: here. Before we dive into the details, let’s start with a quick video summary filmed by…
Thrips Control in Cut Flowers – A Good Try
In August, 2016, we were contacted by a cut-flower grower specializing in Dahlias. There are photos in this article, but they don’t do justice…
Spraying in Vegetable Greenhouses
Back in 2011 we toured a few vegetable greenhouses in Southern Ontario. I wanted to learn more about how greenhouses used hydraulic sprayers (i.e.…
Sprayer Top Tips – The Twitterverse has Spoken
In June, 2016 (back when Twitter was fun), someone tweeted a clever tip for sprayer operators. It got the usual round of likes and…
Disease Control in Berry Crops
In the spring of 2016, the Ontario Berry Growers Association (OBGA) conducted a survey of its membership to poll how fungicides were being applied. The results…
Fungicide Application in Cereal, Pulse, and Oilseed Crops
Get ready for a busy fungicide season. If your growing conditions have been good, your crop is dense and vigorous, and soil moisture is…
Pallet of Roundup – Parody
Pallet of Roundup Sung to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven”, by Spirit…..er, Led Zeppelin There’s a farmer who’s sure all canola…
The Pressure Gauge Shows More Than Pressure
Kim Blagborne (formally with Slimline Manufacturing) has long said that the pressure gauge on an airblast sprayer indicates more than just pressure. It can…
The Case for Low-Drift Sprays
This article was written by Tom Wolf for “PEI Potato News Magazine”, a publication of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board (http://peipotato.org/). It is…
Exploding Sprayer Myths (ep.6): Sprayer Cleanout
It’s been quite a ride. Here’s episode six of “Exploding Spray Myths”. Real Agriculture helps us share an important message about why sprayer clean…
Boomless Nozzle Performance
NOTE: This article has proved very popular, and subsequently we received emails with additional information. The article has now been expanded to include work performed…