Sprayers101 Archive
Search our archive of expert-written, data-driven analysis of spraying techniques, equipment, strategies, and more.
Reducing Selection Pressure for Herbicide Resistance
Herbicide resistance has been called the number one threat to conventional herbicide-based weed management strategies. Since the 1970s, the number of cases of herbicide…
Thermal Inversions for Sprayer Operators
In April 2014, NDSU extension published an excellent factsheet explaining what thermal inversions are, how to detect them and how they affect pesticide spray…
Reading Airblast Nozzle Tables
Airblast operators should know how to read a nozzle table. They are found on dealer and manufacturer websites as well as in their catalogs.…
The Pressure-Spray-Coverage Relationship
Pressure is integral to nozzle performance. Reducing hydraulic pressure reduces nozzle flow rate, increases median droplet size, and typically reduces spray fan angle. Increasing pressure…
Loading a Sprayer? Add Time and Patience!
What’s the most underused active ingredient when creating a proper tank mixture in a sprayer? Patience. Spray season is never long enough. The days which…
Airblast Maintenance Inspection – the Morning Walkaround
An airblast sprayer inspection is part of preventative maintenance. This daily activity identifies small problems before they become big ones. You can do it…
Airblast Calibration – Clearing up Confusion
“Sprayer calibration is an important part of any crop protection program.” Everyone says so, so it must be important. But what exactly are they…
Sprayer Loading and the Jar Test
This article was co-written with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA Weed Management Specialist – Field Crops The time and attention spent during sprayer loading is a…
Sprayer Math for Banded Applications
Where crops are planted in rows, growers can save on chemical costs and reduce potentially wasted spray by performing banded applications. A banded application…
Cleaning an airblast sprayer
Next to sprayer math, cleaning the sprayer is one of the more distasteful aspects of airblast spraying. It’s time-consuming, you never really know when…
Validate Airblast Output – Nozzle Calibration
Sprayer math is important. It ensures the operator applies the correct product rate and has enough to complete the job. But, it assumes the…
Assessing Airblast Coverage
This article describes a method for assessing airblast sprayer coverage based on a protocol developed by Dr. David Manktelow (Applied Research and Technologies Ltd.,…
What do European Sprayers Bring to the North American Market?
We discuss what sets the European sprayer designs apart, with examples of overall dimensions, engine and wheel sizes, as well as tanks, booms, plumbing…
Remove and scrub your filters – Even when you use Dawn
This article was co-developed by Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA Weed Management Specialist in Field Crops Why scrub filters? Why do we ask you to manually…
Airblast Agitation and Solubags
Agricultural products are formulated to be as emulsifiable as possible, but many do not mix well in water. They contain elements that do not…
Exploding Sprayer Myths (ep.4): Speed Spraying
With due respect to Mickey and Mr. Lucas, and the massive hype surrounding Star Wars Episode VII, we felt we should jump on the…
Exploding Sprayer Myths (ep.12): The Buffer Zone
In this episode of Exploding Sprayer Myths we reduce a complicated best practice to black and white… literally. Watch as Jason and Tom get…
Re-imagining of the Axial Airblast Fan
On a trip to Mildura, Victoria I met Matthew McWilliams, Director at Interlink Sprayers. His passion for innovation was exciting. He described Interlink’s history…
Productivity Calculator
Want to figure out how your sprayer configuration affects your productivity? Try out this little that tells you acres per hour, the amount of…
If I had a Million Dollars – Parody
If I had a Million Dollars Sung to the Tune of “If I had a Million Dollars” by The Barenaked Ladies If I…
Exploding Sprayer Myths (ep.11): Drift
This video won the Gold 2019 Canadian Farm Writers Federation’s Jack McPherson Award for Electronic Media. This award is for the best video, news…
Rainfastness of Insecticides and Fungicides on Fruit
This article was co-authored by Kristy Grigg-McGuffin, OMAFA Horticulture IPM Specialist In view of the frequent heavy rains in many regions this season, understanding…
Pesticide Drift and Communication
When it comes to information about mitigating pesticide drift, it’s plentiful and easily accessed. I have an archive of >30 articles written by Ontario…
What’s with dew? – Tips with Tom #9
When warm air is cooled, it loses some of its moisture-holding capabilities. This change often occurs at night, when plants (and other objects) cool.…
Airblast Nozzles – Nozzle Bodies
Excepting air shear and centrifugal style nozzles, most airblast sprayers employ nozzle bodies designed to except hydraulic nozzles distributed evenly along the booms. Nozzle…