Crop spraying is one of the most important and highly skilled jobs undertaken on any arable farm, but it is facing increased public scrutiny. This is why it is vital that the kit you use as a means to apply pesticide to crops is in prime working order and is set up correctly to deliver the product safely and accurately to its target. Optimum sprayer set up will help to maximize the efficacy of applied products, reduce spray drift and keep machinery in good condition.
For this best practice guide to sprayer set up, Farmers Weekly teamed up with former Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year Iain Robertson. Mr. Robertson is assistant arable farm manager at David Foot Ltd, a 2,200ha mixed farm south of Dorchester in Dorset, growing wheat, barley, beans, oilseed rape and maize as forage for the farm’s three dairy herds. The machine used for this guide is a Bateman RB26 self-propelled sprayer and while most of these checks and tests are universally applicable to all sprayers, it is also important to refer to the handbook of the manufacturer of your specific machine.
Watch the video tutorial with Mr. Robertson and then see the step-by-step guide below for more detail.
Pre Start Checks
Before firing up the engine, the first thing to do is your pre-start checks – that means checking your machine’s vital fluids like fuel, hydraulic oil, hydrostatic oil, engine oil and coolant levels. If yours is a self-propelled sprayer, chances are you’ll need to get up on to the back of the machine to check some of these.
“While I’m up on the back of the sprayer I also have a quick look in the top of the tank to make sure that it is nice and clean and the tank rinse nozzles have worked properly – cleanliness is next to godliness,” says Mr. Robertson. Next, move on to the tires. Use a pressure gauge to check all tires are at the correct pressure and refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines. If you’ve got a trailed sprayer, don’t forget to check the tractor tire pressures as well.
Aim for tires to be run at the lowest pressure recommended for the load to be carried. This will help with boom height and stability and also helps tires act like a shock absorber to ride out bumps. If using a trailed sprayer, use a spirit level to ensure that the drawbar is level. Mr. Robertson says he tries to work around the machine in a methodical, clockwise manner to ensure that he doesn’t miss anything.
Coming to the pumps, check that they have got enough oil, check that any tool boxes have enough spare parts and any equipment needed and make sure you are carrying a spill kit with absorbent granules and a spade in case the worst happens and there is a spillage. Make sure all parts are lubricated daily and that any grease nipples are cleaned before and after use to avoid them collecting dirt and blocking.
Check all hydraulic hoses, spray lines and air lines for any signs of wear that could result in problems while operating.
It’s best to run the sprayer at a minimum of 5 bar to check for leaks. Also check the spray tank is fixed down securely, all straps and bolts are tight.
Boom checks
Once opened out, check the boom has good movement in the x- and y-axis. All machines are different so check with your manufacturer as to how the boom is set up. Mr Robertson’s Bateman has tie rods and stock bots that can be adjusted to set the boom up to ride well.
Check the tie rod nearest the back of the machine is slightly loose when moving and that the front rod is tight. Next, check for up and down movement by gently pushing the boom down by about 50cm and letting go. The boom should return to the central position without too much bouncing around.
“We want a little bit of movement but not excessive so that you can ride over the bumps as you go along without over- and under-dosing the crop,” says Mr. Robertson. Boom height is one of the most critical factors when spraying and the ideal height is 50cm above the crop. One of the easiest ways to work this out is by using a cable tie that is cut off at the correct length to use a visual aid from the sprayer cab.
Don’t forget to measure from the tip of the nozzle to the crop, not the spray line.
Good sprayer cleanliness is important, so make sure the system is rinsed through at the end of each day with clean water to make sure there’s no residue left in the boom. If your machine’s boom doesn’t have recirculation, remember to take the end caps off occasionally and flush out the whole boom.
Nozzle checks
Check that the nozzles are aligned both vertically and horizontally, according to the NSTS guidelines. Loosen clamps to adjust any nozzles that need realignment.
Check the nozzle output at least twice a year by running the sprayer with clean water at 3 bar pressure. Time the output of each nozzle for 30 seconds. If nozzles have been used previously, it’s best to check their output against that of a new pair. Mr Robertson advises using a measuring cylinder rather than a jug to measure the flow rate as a jug is less accurate “because you get a bigger variation over the wider surface area”.
With an 03 nozzle running for one minute at 3 bar pressure, the output should be 1.2 litres/minute as a rule of thumb but refer to the nozzle manufacturer’s output chart for the expected flow rate. “An easy way to remember this is: at 3 bar your nozzle size multiplied by four will give you your target litres/minute output. It works for all nozzle sizes.” If the output varies more than 4% of the average, or if the spray pattern visually doesn’t look correct, you need to change the nozzle set.
After checking the output, cross-reference this figure with the rate controller – you may need to adjust the flow figures to ensure that the two correlate. If a nozzle becomes blocked while spraying, Mr. Robertson says he will swap it for a new one and then clean it later using a toothbrush or airline. Never blow through a nozzle with your mouth.
Nozzle choice
The choice of nozzle is highly dependent on the sort of job you’re doing. “Timing is crucial but using the right nozzle at the right time will make the job so much easier, cut drift and mean that you’re getting more of the product where you want it to go. If you aim at it you will hit it,” says Mr. Robertson.
His nozzle of choice is an 03 size and he prefers to use the Defy 3D nozzle alternated forwards and backwards across the boom for pre-emergence work and T0 applications as well as the T3 ear spray. “In less than optimum conditions I may prefer to use the Amistar/Guardian Air, a fine induction nozzle. I would use this at T1 and T2 and also in sub-optimum conditions.” This nozzle has a 3-star Local Environmental Risk Assessment for Pesticides (LERAP) rating and is 75% drift reducing.
A water volume of 100 litres/ha is a good rate for spring fungicide application. It provides enough coverage for good disease control and allows maximum efficiency from the sprayer.
Forward speed
The third and final part of reducing spray drift is forward speed. Depending on nozzle size and water volume, aim to travel at 12kph.
Mr Robertson says he finds that this speed gives a good overall output and means you don’t get shadowing or turbulence behind the machine.
Tips and tricks
One of the biggest risk of contamination is at fill up. “A fantastic, cheap trick that I learned through Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year is to take a 200 litre plastic drum and cut it in half to create two drip trays to catch any spillages under the induction hopper and the tank overfill.” This eliminates point source contamination, he says.
“Finally, there’s a plethora of information out there on the internet, loads of good apps to download. The technology is there to help us do the best job possible and make our job as safe as possible.”
A Veteran Applicator’s Questions about Pesticide Handling
Time and again, after years of working with dozens of different chemicals, I would wonder to myself “How dangerous is this chemical?”, “Is glyphosate as safe as they say it is?”, “How do I find out what type of safety gear I need while handling this chemical?”
Beyond the agrichemical dealer, ag. consultants, and university or government ag. extension specialists, a quick internet search reveals many sources of pesticide information. Collectively they identify the active ingredient(s) in formulated products, they detail which pests are best controlled by the pesticide, and they provide instruction for application. But it’s more difficult to find consistent, practical information about safe pesticide handling. Sometimes it’s excessive to the point of being impractical (try finding actual “chemical proof” gloves), and sometimes it’s minimal and vague – it depends where you look. No matter the level of precaution, pesticide safety is time consuming and involves some fussing, but it is the hallmark of responsible pesticide use. Just as we ensure that we are applying “safe rates” when spraying chemicals, we must also ensure we are respecting our own well-being while handling chemicals.
In Canada, the Pesticide Regulatory Directorate (PRD) is charged with protecting human health and safety by monitoring pesticides that are sold in this country. According to the Federal Pest Control Products Act all pesticides sold in Canada must be registered with the PRD. There’s a very nice overview of how that process works here. It is during this registration process that pesticide handling precautions are identified for the label. Further classification may take place under provincial acts.
All pesticides are designed to disrupt, repel, control or kill living organisms, but when it comes to safe handling, insecticides receive the most attention. This is because herbicides and fungicides target biochemical pathways that only exist in plants or fungi. However, most pesticides can be hazardous if they are not handled correctly. The handling precautions that appear on the label are based on five factors.
Five factors that affect handling precautions:
1. Pesticide Family
This factor is the broadest way to categorize potential risk to the handler. Generally, herbicides and fungicides are considered safer than insecticides, but there are notable exceptions. Do not rely solely on the pesticide family when making decisions on pesticide handling.
2. Pesticide Mode of Action
The mode of action gives further detail into how a pesticide should be handled. Modes of action that inhibit biochemical pathways that exist in the target pest, but not in mammals (people, in particular), have lower acute toxicities. Examples include herbicides that inhibit enzymes involved in amino acid synthesis or in photosynthesis – these enzymes do not exist in mammals. However, once again, there are always exceptions. Do not rely solely on mode of action when making decisions on pesticide handling.
3. Pesticide Formulation & Route of Entry
Pesticide formulation affects how a product can potentially be absorbed into the body. Emulsifiable Concentrates (ECs), for example, have higher rates of absorption than solutions or dry products. When it comes to the route of entry, dermal contact is considered safer than inhalation or ingestion. However, not all parts of your skin are created equal, and the point of dermal contact on the body matters a great deal.
4. Pesticide Toxicity
Taken collectively, the first three factors form the overall toxicity of the pesticide. The level of toxicity cannot be predicted – it has to be tested. The LD50 (defined below) values that are reported for a pesticide come from standardized experiments such as animal feeding. Although the chosen species (usually white rats for mammalian endpoints) are known to be similar to humans in their response, there is still the possibility of error. Nevertheless, toxicity forms an important basis for establishing handling precautions.
5. Operator Exposure
People handle toxic substances every day. Household bleach, for example is surprisingly toxic, and yet it can be readily found on kitchen shelves in many homes. The risk of being harmed by a toxic product can only be determined by the likelihood of exposure. While it is possible someone might accidentally consume a hazardous dose of bleach, it’s improbable. Exposure does not just refer to a single exposure to a substance – repeated exposures to small doses of a toxic substance can have a cumulative effect. The goal when handling any pesticide is to minimize exposure, but it becomes even more critical when that pesticide is highly toxic. Together, exposure and toxicity form the basis for risk.
Risk = Hazard x Exposure
Studies have shown that exposure is greatest for handlers of agricultural pesticides during the mixing and loading phase of spraying. During this phase, the risk to the handler may be increased due to:
physical stress
the denial of risk
a negative opinion of personal protective equipment (PPE)
The main method of pesticide exposure is dermal, and many of the surfaces on a piece of equipment are already contaminated.
Health effects of pesticides: Acute and Chronic
Acute: short term
High exposure, resulting in immediate reaction due to a high dosage of pesticide exposure. The severity depends on the toxicity of the molecule and entry into the body (dermal, oral, eyes, etc.). The most common acute reaction is skin irritation, although in certain cases respiratory, digestive, and neurological systems may be affected. Organophosphate (e.g. Lorsban, Malathion) and carbamate (e.g. Sevin, Lannate) insecticides inhibit the cholinesterase enzyme, which is found in humans and affects nerve function. Frequent users of these insecticides undergo regular blood tests to ensure their levels are normal.
Chronic: long term
Chronic affects are more prolonged as they are usually due to lower doses of pesticide exposure over a longer period of time. Although some rare cancers and disruption of the reproductive system have shown to be related to this type of exposure, when the general population and farming population have been compared in studies, the farming population has shown an under-representation in the majority of cancers. In the cases were reproductive malfunctions were observed, a different cause of the malfunction, such as genetic offset, was most often observed in these situations. However, cancer types such as skin cancer and brain cancer were overrepresented in the farming community. A study in France has shown that the onset of neurological disorders in Agriculture communities shows a strong connection between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to pesticides.
Label Information
The majority of information needed to safely handle pesticides is found on the label. Pesticide labels are legal documents, meaning they can be enforced by the federal government. The problem is that most sprayer operators rarely look at the label as they are not very reader friendly and easy to skim through. Most pesticide boxes even have the recommended rate, or acres/case on the side of the box now, so there is even less reason to look at the label.
LD50– the dose of pesticide in mg per kg of the test animals body weight that is lethal to 50 percent of the group of test animals. For example, if the pesticide has an acute oral LD50 value of 1000 mg/kg, and the test animals each weigh 1 kg, then 50 percent of the animals would die if they each ate 1000 mg of pesticide at once. A 100 kg animal would need to ingest 100,000 mg (100 g) of the pesticide for the same effect. LD50 is often expressed by the route of entry – dermal, inhalation, acute oral (ingestion) are the main examples.
Degree of Risk and Hazard Symbols
Two Factors that Determine the Appropriate Level of PPE
The Hazard Rating (above) incorporates the minimum protection generally required for a substance with the rating.
The Label Recommendations will usually give the additional specific protective clothing and equipment needs for an applicator.
Degree of Exposure
This increases as the length of each pesticide application increases. As the number of pesticide applications increases, the time between exposures decreases. If an operator becomes exposed to spray, dust or fumes the degree of exposure increases. Essentially, more protective wear is needed as the degree of exposure becomes greater.
Knowledge
This encompasses all of the above information. In order for a pesticide applicator to avoid injury or the chances of adverse effects on the body, a pesticide applicator must be knowledgeable about pesticides. It can be overwhelming for an applicator to sort through all of the information on the label or on-line regarding pesticides. So much so, that most often applicators avoid the information altogether. Ongoing training and learning will ensure that they are effective in their work. Many aspects of pest control change continuously, as new studies are conducted on the effects of pesticide exposure.
A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is available for each pesticides registered, and these are usually linked on manufacturers’ websites. It can be eye-opening what types of toxicity tests are done, and what the results are.
Denial that pesticides can potentially cause harm is also a major flaw in the behaviour of applicators. Maintaining a safe work environment and practicing personal safety will reduce the chances of an applicator experiencing serious injury throughout their farming career.
Unknowns
There is very little certainty in toxicology. For one, most testing is done using acute oral and dermal dosing. Basically, toxicologists expose test animals to the neat active ingredient and watch what happens. There is a lot of missing information – what about formulant like solvents, and surfactants? What about synergies in tank mixes? Some, but not all of these, undergo testing. We also have much less information on chronic (long-term) effects, and can only simulate these in quasi long-range tests. In addition, toxicological methodologies and statistical approaches can vary, and we should not be surprised that some reports disagree, and that there are outright conflicts between toxicologists and epidemiologists (scientists that study patterns of health in populations). Regulators are aware of these shortcomings and often use safety factors to account for them. But those of us that use these products regularly, the message is simple: be cautious, and protect yourself.
Avoid Cross-Contamination
Disposable nitrile gloves are the product of choice for handling pesticides. But one of the most common problems with the use of gloves is cross-contamination. You’re handling product with your gloves on, touching containers, hoses, valves, and couplers. When you’re done, you climb back into the cab where you take off your gloves. Later, someone climbs up into the cab to talk to you, using the railing and operating the door handle without gloves. Guess what’s on their hands? Even later, you put away the hose without gloves and return to the sprayer. Now it’s on the steering wheel and all the levers. There are a few solutions:
Double-glove so you can take the dirty outside glove off and still be protected.
Wipe down surfaces that you might touch with gloved or bare hands daily.
If using non-disposable gloves, avoid lined gloves and rinse the insides out daily.
Learn More
If you would like to learn more about pesticide safety, or to obtain pesticide application training, the Pesticide Applicator License can be obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture. This course offers in depth, valuable safety information for applicators, as well as general knowledge for pesticide applicators. The Pesticide Regulatory Directorate provides workers, employers, and the general public with a wide range of pesticide information. The PRD can be contacted from anywhere in Canada toll free at: 1-800-267-6315
Download this Quick Reference Guide for commonly used herbicides. Print, laminate and post it at the fill station or pesticide storage area for easy reference. Also, grab a copy of Health Canada’s “Stay Safe when using Pesticides” factsheet.
The level of filtration required for any given spray operation depends on the materials sprayed and the nuisance factor: That is, the balance between lost productivity from plugged nozzles and the effort required to address them during rinsing.
There are opportunities to install strainers at the tank opening (usually a basket), the suction-side of the pump, each section line, and behind the nozzles. While we’ve yet to see an operation that uses all four (speciality or field operations), the suction strainer and line strainers are required bare-minimum.
This infographic explains how strainers are classified. Be aware that older strainers may use a different colour code (e.g. 50 mesh used to be red – now it’s blue).
To convert these ratings to actual size exclusion, we look at the Mesh Width (mm). An 80 mesh (yellow) leaves a distance of 0.18 to 0.23 mm between the wires. We can convert Mesh Width from mm to microns by multiplying it by 1,000, giving us 180 – 230 microns.
Each level of filtration should get progressively finer, ending with the nozzle strainers being slightly finer than the nozzle orifice. Nozzle catalogues will often advise you on which strainer is appropriate for the nozzle you are using.
When we ask why operators don’t use nozzle strainers, the response is either “Because they plug” or “It’s one more thing to clean”. Well, if your nozzle strainers are plugging, it’s likely because you have an agitation (see here) or mixing issue (see hereand here) further up the line. They can handle a lot before the spray pattern begins to suffer … but yes, you do have to clean them regularly so they can continue their good work.
Running water through any strainer often fails to remove plugs and debris, which are a source of contamination that can wreak havoc later on. They have to be removed and physically scrubbed during rinsing. We ran a demo to show why this irritating process is still a must-do (here).
If you use an airblast sprayer, you should use slotted (not mesh, which plug too easily) nozzle strainers. Beyond the obvious benefit of preventing plugged nozzles, the strainer shoulder plays a role in keeping the nozzle snug in the nozzle body. Without it, you may need additional gaskets to prevent leaks. Be aware that some nozzle strainer designs can plug a nozzle body. Learn more here.
If you use a field sprayer with clean carrier water, liquid formulations and large nozzles, you may never need nozzle strainers. But, if you’re using a lot of dry formulations, if your agitation is under-powered, or if your fill water is less than pristine (we’ve seen frogs in sprayer tanks) then you might consider them… even if they are a nuisance to clean.
In this fourth installment of the Drive-Along Diaries, we’ll shift our focus a little. I’ll continue to share observations about real world spraying practices, but we’ll also dip a toe into the business side of custom application. Every contractor’s situation is different, but perhaps you’ll be able to relate to some of these experiences.
4:30 am
Once again, I found myself driving through Ontario in the wee hours, sipping life-giving coffee and marveling at the total absence of traffic. I was headed to Grande Pointe near Chatham to meet with Paul Delanghe, who’d invited me to tag along with him. I was looking forward, but I was also experiencing a little dread as I imagined subjecting my posterior to another day in the buddy seat. When I arrived at 7:00, I found Paul and his staff in the office. Handshakes were shared all around. Then I dove right in by asking how he got started and how his business worked.
Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to sit on you again.
An evolving business model – fertilizer and/or fungicide?
Paul’s family has farmed cash crops, including field tomatoes and sugar beets, for four generations. When he left the aviation industry in 2015, he invested in a high clearance sprayer and a set of Y-drops to apply fertilizer on the family farm. It wasn’t long before he was doing neighbouring farms as well. By 2017 he was saw potential in custom fertilizer work and started Acres Unlimited (AU), which incorporated in 2019.
The original business proposition was straightforward. A split fertilizer application with optimal timing can increase yield while saving fertilizer dollars. For example, perhaps a customer would lay down 150-175 lbs of fertilizer early season, and then call on Paul for another 25-50 lbs using his Y-drops. They might request a single rate, or a variable rate depending on soil type and yield potential (or none if hail or drought wreaked havoc).
This worked well for a few years, so Paul expanded into fungicides. He observed that many corn growers didn’t want to invest in their own high clearance sprayers and preferred to let a contractor worry about minimizing the trample (~4% of the yield). In the case of wheat, many growers were too busy planting to thoroughly clean their sprayers after herbicide applications and were happy to make that the contractor’s problem.
Paul found that fertilizer applications weren’t as lucrative as fungicide applications. High volume fertilizer applications meant spraying 300 ac/day instead of the 5-700 typical of herbicide or fungicide applications. That loss in productivity bit deeper when he had to rely on the client to load UAN because it meant chasing refills and waiting on small-capacity pumps.
Those delays created scheduling conflicts. Typically, as June slips into July, the window for fertilizers closes as the window for fungicides opens. But when there’s a wet spring (like we had this year) it stretches the planting window. Paul would get calls for fertilizer applications in late July, overlapping the fungicide sprays that extended into early August.
So, was offering custom fertilizer still worth it? Fungicides represent the biggest opportunity for profit and are relatively low risk. UAN is hard on equipment and machine prices and depreciation costs have increased significantly (Paul figures $200.00 CAD/engine hour). He calculated that he would have raise his prices to $25/ac for custom fertilizer applications, and that just wasn’t feasible. So, for all these reasons, he decided to leave custom fertilizer applications behind.
Staff roles and coordination
Today, Acres Unlimited consists of Paul, two full time employees (one sprayer operator and one tender truck operator) and one part timer. In addition to working for AU, employees have personal endeavours, such as running their own farms or hauling tomatoes. That means work assignments must be flexible because availability isn’t always a given. Paul sprays from April to November and when he works on his own, he can handle 3 to 500 acres a day. As long as everyone is on board for the peak spraying season in late July / early August it all seems to work.
Staff coordinate their activities through their phones. They drop pins in Google Maps, use a group chat and call regularly to stay in touch. Each employee is trusted to operate semi independently, using their own judgement to establish the safest, most effective, and most efficient means to get the job done. I was left with the impression that the business functioned almost as a cooperative under the Acres Unlimited banner.
7:45 am – The yard
This was great office conversation, and I was so engrossed that I didn’t notice when the staff left for the yard to get ready for the day. We followed behind and Paul showed me their spraying equipment.
The Sprayers
Paul has experience with several asset tracking packages (e.g., AgLeader, Raven), but he likes John Deere’s Op Centre the most. When he started spraying, Deere was the most expensive North American option, so he went with Miller and Hagie. However, the cost of sprayers has increased in recent years and closed the price gap sufficiently for him to justify buying a 412R in 2023. AU also runs a 2022 Miller Nitro 7310, and that’s used by their second operator.
According to Paul, Deere really isn’t interested in producing a high clearance machine for corn (he was encouraged to go buy a Hagie) so he had to add tall tires and a lift kit to climb from the 1.53 m (60”) stock clearance under the frame to 1.82 m (72”). He also protected the hydraulics behind the tires by covering them with canvas bags. Other growers use 5 gallon pails or even car mats to accomplish the same thing.
Tendering equipment
AU recently upgraded to a Phiber DASH 4.4 on their 15,900 L (4,200 gallon) tender truck. It caused a little sticker shock but paid for itself very quickly. The sprayer was no longer idling while the operator filled the bowls, saving on engine hours. Plus, the less than eight-minute fill time added to their overall productivity.
The tender truck itself was designed for the operator to forklift totes onto an overhead platform and gravity feed chemistry into the inductor bowls. Paul likes the bulk format over the jugs and uses it whenever it’s feasible. However, he installed transfer pumps because they’re faster than gravity feed and do a better job emptying the totes completely. Paul prefers to trust the embossed sight gauge on the side of the bowls over a flow meter; Variability in product viscosity makes the flow meter inaccurate, and that adds up over several loads. In fact, when using totes, they’ve seen discrepancies as high as 50 L (13 gallons) at the end of a day.
There was also a humble 1994 cube truck to service the other sprayers with diesel and chemistry, and a 27,250 L (7,200 gallon) water truck. AU gets their water from municipal stations, and one was conveniently located across the street from the yard. It’s a fast fill, and while there’s rarely a line up, they still make sure to fill each night to ensure an efficient start the next morning.
Float trailer
Chatham-Kent and Essex are big counties. When Paul ran the numbers on engine hour depreciation, the operator’s time, fuel, maintenance, and tire wear, floating the sprayer between jobs made sense. So, he uses a 12,100 L (3,200 gallon) float trailer to transport his Deere 412R.
He chose the two-bowl Phiber DASH 2.4 because they use a lot of jug formats with this sprayer. The left bowl (J) is a push-to-rinse system and on the right (R), a knife. This is handy for co-packs. For example, Veltyma DLX is a co-pack with one larger and one smaller jug. The smaller jug gets upended on the rinser and the larger jug gets spiked on the knife. Spiking is faster, but there’s always a chance of stabbing yourself, so better to spike the larger jugs.
8:05 – Heading out
While I waited, Paul circle-checked the float trailer. Then he flipped open the tractor trailer hood and climbed inside to get it to start! He explained that he had to manually operate the fuel pump because the electrical was cranking too slowly. This truck had almost 1,000,000 km on it and fixing the pump was going to be ~$7,000.00, so this little work-around was fine with Paul. Plus, it’s great anti-theft security.
We drove on narrow county roads which required us to lean on the gravel curbs. Paul noted that it typically kicks up a lot of dust and aggravates the people driving behind him. It can spur them to passing unsafely. But since we’d had so much regular rain this season, there was no dust and people seemed more patient.
This isn’t actually Paul, but only a few weeks after spending the day with him I ended up driving behind a sprayer. The photo op was too good to miss. and yes, I passed him.
8:18 am – Loading
Now at our destination, Paul found a safe and accessible place to park and began untethering the sprayer. That consisted of removing the four chains with turnbuckles that secured the sprayer to the trailer. He always does this first, so he doesn’t forget before backing it off… ask him how he knows. This took about two minutes to complete. Then he hit a switch under the sprayer to send up the airbags and grabbed some gloves to start filling the inductor bowls.
As Paul was pouring chemistry into the inductor bowls his phone started ringing. He said he never answers when he’s focused on loading. It takes time and attention to ensure it’s done right, and he didn’t want any distractions. Paying a little extra time and attention now means avoiding costly issues later.
This was a 54 ac job, but Paul was adding enough for 60 acres because he didn’t want to run short. A little leftover fungicide on the next job (soybeans) would be a nice bonus for the client. Each jug was emptied, rinsed immediately, had the cap replaced and was dropped back in its cardboard box. The water truck operator would grab them later when he came with our refill. Removing caps and labels for recycling is a rainy-day job.
Prepping jugs and cardboard for recycling is rainy day work.
The loading process
Perhaps I should have explained sooner, but here’s a short and generic description of the chemical loading system. Product gets added to a conical inductor bowl. This can be via jug (poured or knifed), or from bulk containers via gravity or transfer pump, or dry products get blended with a recirculating agitator. One of several bowls might be filled, each with their own product, or one bowl can be filled and emptied serially. Then the operator starts the carrier pump and begins pushing carrier (usually water) into the sprayer tank. Once enough is loaded, a valve at the bottom of the bowl is opened and the Venturi effect creates suction to draw the chemistry into the carrier stream. Then a second valve is opened to activate a rinse head in the bowl, or this is done manually using a hand-held hose. This process can then be repeated to separate products and control mixing order. Finally, it’s followed up by more carrier to rinse the lines and finish filling.
Alternately, the suction pump on the sprayer itself can draw in carrier and the induction bowl on the side of the sprayer can be used to add chemistry. In a similar fashion, onboard water is used to rinse the jug and the bowl.
Paul used a hybrid of these two methods by engaging the pump on the tender system and the pump on the sprayer simultaneously to speed up the process. There are some caveats to doing this. The concern is that some formulations may cause damage to the sprayer pump, but Paul feels there’s so much carrier water following behind the chemistry that it flushes the pump and the entire line. Here’s how he did it.
Paul backed the sprayer off the trailer and hooked up to the front-fill. He started the pump on the DASH to add about 750 L (200 gallons) of water to the 4,540 L (1,200 gallon) sprayer tank. This was not the ideal “half full”, but unless he’s anticipating a mixing issue, that’s all he uses. In situations when he’s pushing multiple products into the sprayer, he’s found that the tank can fill before he’s done. Ironically, that’s when it’s so important to start with more water, but I’ll get off my high horse now.
He had already poured or knifed products into the bowls, so he opened the valve under the first, drawing the contents into the water stream before rinsing the bowl down. Then he did the second. Then he walked over to the sprayer and started the sprayer pump to add a “pull” to the “push” and speed up the fill before returning to the DASH to wait.
Paul said he’d installed an Accu-Volume on his Miller sprayer (and loves it) but saw no need for it on the Deere. He said the float in the tank quickly and accurately responds to the level in the tank. At that point the sprayer registered as “full”, the sprayer pump automatically shut off and the valve closed. You could hear it happen. But the DASH was still pushing and would quickly stretch and damage the hose, and even cause leaks.
That sound was Paul’s cue to quickly shut off the DASH pump. Then he closed the Banjo quarter turn valves on either side of the connection and disconnected the feed. He said he never pushes UAN through this system. Ag retailers don’t use flow meters with UAN because they can be inaccurate – instead they use weigh scales. However, it was too hard to navigate an oversized tender truck onto a scale, so UAN got loaded directly.
At 8:32 we were filled and ready to go. That was 14 minutes from the time Paul started untethering to when he started backing the sprayer off the tender truck. And it would have been a lot faster if he hadn’t taken time to explain it to me.
8:35 am – Job 1
At the edge of the first corn field, Paul unfolded the boom and set up the monitor. We would be applying 20 gpa at 60 psi and travelling about 12 mph. When spraying corn, Paul tends to travel between 10 and 14 mph. He double checked that the pneumatics he’d switched on earlier had lifted the sprayer high enough to clear the corn.
One of the chemical companies had given him a set of Low-Drift Air 11005 flat fans (PSLDAQ1005) to try, and this was his first time using them. We immediately saw that they were not all pointing in the same direction (or even alternating). They were just on willy-nilly. We figured it wouldn’t matter since we were only just clearing the tassels, but it tweaked both of our latent OCD personalities and we decided to fix them next chance we got.
Nozzles tilting at windmills – just not all in the same direction.
We finished at 8:59 am and found we’d covered 51 of the estimated 55 acres, due in part to a few missed strips and rounded-off corners. Why did we miss them? Read on.
Fungicides versus herbicides and fertilizers
I’d tagged along during fertilizer and herbicide applications, so I began to notice that overhead fungicides in corn seemed to follow different rules. Here are some observations I made throughout the day:
It’s not ideal to have to stretch a tank of herbicide, but you can if it’s not too dilute. And you can always go top up if you really must. However, for fungicides, you absolutely do not want to run short because that means increased trample. You can stretch the tank a little, but if it means running over corn, then leaving a few “test strips” and unsprayed corners is the profitable choice. Quote from Paul: “The most important part of fungicide in corn? Don’t run over the corn.”
Paul felt sectional control was more than enough resolution for fungicide applications in small/medium sized fields. The uniformity and product-savings associated with nozzle-level resolution (e.g. PWM with turn compensation) pays with herbicides and expensive fertilizer, but not fungicide.
A low and steady boom is ideal, but not critical for corn fungicides. Increased drift potential and a loss of coverage uniformity are still bad practice, but rather than slow down and drop the boom, we leaned into maintaining our speed and raised the boom ends until they were clear of the tassels. Even then, the centre rack was still deep in the canopy. C’est la vie.
9:00 am – Job 2
Job two was the for the same customer, so all we had to do was cross the street to a 60 acre soybean field waiting for an application of Delaro Complete. This time we were full in seven minutes (because I didn’t ask silly questions) and we were starting to run short of water. We called for more.
I haven’t mentioned it, but the Deere was equipped with Precision Planting’s ReClaim recirculating booms. He was actually one of the prototype testers, having installed it on his old Patriot a few years back and his Miller as well. I’ll discuss the system in more detail later on. So, at 9:10 am we started recirculating the boom to dilute the residual Veltyma DMX and prime the Delaro Complete. Veltyma DMX has some “greening effect” on soybean, so while a full dose wouldn’t hurt anything, it would leave a conspicuous green triangle at the edge of the field that no one wants to see.
We drove the perimeter manually. The ruts left from such a wet year kept tugging the sprayer, so Paul steered with a light touch, correcting when the wheels pulled. Once we got to the interior, we were applying 20 gpa at 13 mph. Paul relied more on autosteer (although he still fought the ruts a bit) and took the opportunity to text customers and get in touch with staff. Just as when he’s focused while loading, never taking a call, he doesn’t take them when spraying field boundaries. At 9:39 we were empty and done.
Acquiring and scheduling customers
I asked how AU found and scheduled customers. Paul said that roughly 40% of their business came from contracts with ag retailers and the remainder was direct. AU works with a few ag retailers, and they don’t all operate the same way. Here’s how it was explained to me.
Ag retailer 1 acquires a customer and sells them any number of agronomic services, including crop inputs. Then they use their own sprayer, or subcontract someone like AU to spray those crop inputs. AU has the option to decline a job (perhaps it’s too small, too distant, or generally undesirable), but they can’t do that too often. If they accept, they pick up the chemistry and apply it within 24 hours to avoid long-term storage.
Ag retailer 2 has a different arrangement. In this case Paul refers to a project management app called “Monday.com” which allows him to review and select open jobs. Once again, they pick up the chemistry and apply it within 24 hours.
AU also takes on customers directly. Weather events and breakdowns are problems for farmers but represent opportunities for contractors. AU is often hired by large farming operations (e.g. >1,000 ac) when they can’t keep up, and this is far better than chasing 10-15 ac fields.
Juggling all these customers can be challenging. In the winter, the core, repeat customers are penciled into the schedule. However, in the chaos of fungicide season, the ag retail customers get priority because of contractual obligations. And, of course, AU is always open to opportunities and slots in new jobs as best they can. They take advantage of social media while operating because Paul believes it’s important to stay involved in the community, but also because it’s a means of free advertising. People see when they’re in the area and it’s resulted in lots of jobs.
Duck hunting
I debated including this in an already epic article, but it was too interesting to leave on the cutting room floor. Paul also described a long-standing niche job working as a land manager for a few private “duck-farm” operations. Nearby Mitchel’s Bay is some of the best duck hunting in the world because of strategically placed duck-farms next to marshes or lakes. They grow corn to attract the ducks, then mow parts down to make pathways for boats, and then flood the fields using dikes and pumps.
These clubs aren’t necessarily big revenue generators. They’re perks for businesses to offer employees, or locales for casual business meetings, or maybe just status symbols for the wealthy elite. Given that they spend a lot of the year flooded, the ground is tough to spray because it’s always soft. Sprayers can’t go in full, and that tends towards premium fees for crop management.
Paul sprays for a few of these operations because he finds the whole practice fascinating. And, as a duck hunter himself, he’s permitted access to places most never see. There’s no such thing as free corn, Daffy.
9:43 am – Water fill
The water truck arrived and six minutes later we were topped up. Then it left to go support the Miller about 30 minutes away, promising to come back to us right after. Paul appreciated not having to go back to the yard for water – how can you ever be satisfied with coach after you’ve flown first class? We headed off to the next job.
Paul made this look easy.
9:51 am – Job 3
This 50 acre soybean field abutted a tomato field, and after seeing this sort of thing all season I wondered aloud if buffer zones were just a white lie that we tell ourselves. Paul chuckled and said there’s generally no stress when spraying fungicide this close to a sensitive crop, but herbicide would be tense. He changed fields on the monitor, verified that he was applying the right amount and started spraying. He noted there was a soft area in the field where the owner replanted soybeans. We avoided it.
This was one of the direct customers and not an ag retail client. The customer was a tradesman that left the crop protection choices to Paul. Custom operators can have a lot of influence on their client’s product choices because they spray so many acres with so many chemistries. In order to better guide his clients, Paul makes an effort to get involved in product testing and performance trials. But, as a sprayer operator, he’s not only interested in efficacy and price, but also ease-of-use.
Running a product comparison trial
For example, powdered manganese plugs a sprayer horribly while liquid formulations are far more forgiving. Another example, perhaps one product is 1 L/ac while another is 2 L/ac. Handling less is always easier. Or perhaps all this is trumped when a customer is swayed by loyalty points, which are issued by some registrants to reward a customer for using their suite of products.
We were done at 10:11 and found we’d covered 47.5 of the 50 acres because we skipped that wet, replanted area. That left about five acres worth of spray mix in the tank that we’d have to consider on the next job.
Recirculating booms
Paul secured the sprayer to the trailer, and we hit the road. While we drove, he talked about why he felt a recirculation system was necessary. Beyond the savings in chemistry and water, he said it was tricky charging the boom on some of the farms in the county. Severed lots meant more homes and private gardens, and that limits where it’s safe to prime.
Precision Planting released their aftermarket ReClaim recirculating boom a few years ago. We’ve written about it. Basically, it relies on dropping the pressure below the ~10 psi required to open the check valves in the nozzle bodies. So, no shut-off valves required. However, some Deere pumps won’t operate under 20 psi, which requires a work-around. Despite having that fix in place, we still saw nozzles dribbling while we were recirculating. Obviously not ideal, but Paul said it cost about a seventh of what the factory option would have cost, so he could live with it.
But there are other points to consider. For example, the sprayer doesn’t know the feature is there. So, when recirculation is engaged the sprayer “thinks” it’s spraying, and as liquid passes the flowmeter, the display shows the volume dropping… but it isn’t. As a result, the operator must know how much liquid circulated and manually adjust the volume prior to spraying.
And this system isn’t plumbed to flush the lines from the clean water tank. And it increases the length of hose that needs to be rinsed. And while you can recirculate glyphosate and UAN, many operators won’t do it with sticky products like atrazine or dicamba, preferring to just prime normally and keep them out of the recirculation lines.
While Paul and I were discussing all of this, and you can’t make this stuff up, the second operator called to say they broke an elbow on their recirculation line. To their credit, Precision was out there like a shot and had it mended in an hour (amazing service). But the delay meant we had to redistribute some of the remaining jobs. It was decided that Paul would take on some extra work and then both operators would meet up at the end of the day and split the last job.
10:50 am – Job 4
We parked, dismounted from the trailer, loaded and taxied to the headland. Paul said it was another 50 acres of corn, but I saw something was different. He treaded out the tires to a 138″ spacing to align with what I was told was a 23” corn spacing. Until now, we were on a typical 30” planting architecture. I soon learned that I didn’t like 23” corn. Tracking between such tight rows without trampling everything was a nightmare.
Here are two videos. We’re driving 30″ corn in the first and 23″ in the second.
I asked if Paul had tried row feelers, but he said they didn’t work on such tight spacing. In any case they got in the way when he used his float trailer. So, I watched as Paul studied the row ahead and referred to the feed from the cameras, micro-adjusting the steering for the entire 47.8 acre field as he fought to stay between the rows. It felt like forever, but we were done at 11:24 and back on the road for tendering a few minutes later.
11:38 am – Job 5
As we drove alongside this 45 ac field to get to the entry, we saw rows of sweet corn planted on the perimeter (surprise). Paul said there was a variety trial planted in the centre of the field somewhere as well and that we weren’t supposed to spray it. And it was another 23” row spacing.
Once again, we found it hard to stay on course. Just for added fun we got pulled by the planter draft and the occasional guess row. We finished at 12:10 pm and planned to meet the water truck. As we left, Paul reset the treads to 120” from 138”. Never good to forget that bit – again, ask Paul how he knows.
1:07 pm – Job 6
After a short and uneventful drive to the next client, we parked, loaded, and unfolded at the headland of a 45 ac cornfield. As we sprayed, Paul was on the lookout for a bridge that would give us access to another, smaller field. It turned out to be a substantial land bridge, which disappointed Paul because he was hoping to take me over a rickety little wooden bridge. The buddy seat was rough enough without testing its absorptive qualities as well, so I was good with it.
There were plenty of obstacles in this field. Paul was well acquainted with “the tree”. They’d had dealings in the past. I asked about wind turbines, which were all over the county, and I was surprised that he liked them. All turbines in the area have associated hard-packed lanes leading through the field. Paul took advantage by parking on them and filling there if needed. Plus, he watched them to monitor wind speed and inversion situations.
Still on the subject of obstacles, we found a field of peppers hidden in the corn. We left the test strip there. As we made these on the fly decisions, Paul wondered how an autonomous sprayer would handle all these little surprises. A good question.
I was finding the rows a little hypnotic and said so. Paul said corn was hard to spray day after day. In windy conditions, the tassels sway and it can make an operator dizzy. Some operators slow down to 10 mph or use row feelers to stay on track. We finished at 1:37 and when we got back to the trailer, two new jobs came in over the phone. Paul decided that his other operator could absorb those. We got ready for what might be our last job – rain was forecast
1:58 pm – Job 7
Full again, this 74 acre corn field would also get a test strip. Paul reiterated that it’s better to trample a field once, and not go in and out to get more spray mix. So, we filled for 70 acres spraying at 17 gal/ac and 9.6 mph to empty a single tankful as accurately as we could.
I watched as the pollen and anthers broke in waves over the hood and onto the steps. The radiator fan periodically reversed to blow it all out, but not as frequently as we needed. Paul occasionally did it manually. The sound of corn scraping and hitting the sprayer was loud. Paul said corn can beat the paint off a sprayer and damage the side induction bowl – wow. Carbon filtered cab or not, my pollen allergy was driving me crazy, and I was glad this was our last job. We were done at 2:37 and back on trailer five minutes later.
3:30 pm – Back at the yard
As we pulled into the yard it looked like rain was indeed coming. We weren’t worried about the fungicides we’d applied because they were rainfast in an hour. But it did put a premature end to the spray day. We’d covered more than 365 acres in the Deere, which was a light fungicide day for Paul. Combined with what the Miller did, AU covered 735 acres.
As I was packing to leave Paul asked if I was interested in seeing his new battery-powered backpack sprayer. I was, but I didn’t realize he’d put me to work spot spraying weeds. So, I suppose we actually covered 736 acres that day: 735 in sprayers, and one manual. Worth it.
It was May 16th, and I was standing at the front counter of Clean Field Services (CFS) in Drayton, Ontario, looking forward to an interesting day in the buddy seat. While I was waiting on the sprayer operator to check and fill the sprayer, I asked Todd Frey, Customer Service Rep, to give me some background into the company.
Clean Field Services
Todd’s father, Dennis, started spraying for a neighbour in the 1990s using a truck-mounted skid sprayer. In 2003 he began offering custom application services from their Drayton location, and in 2009 incorporated as CFS. Primarily offering contract application services to small fields (<20 acres), they also offered scouting and agronomy services, sold seed, and created nutrient management plans.
A big part of the business is liquid fertilizer. Many local retailers are set up to apply dry fertilizers, but here they pre-blend liquid fertilizer and can fill a sprayer in three minutes thanks to their new John Blue, 20 hp pump with it’s 4” inlet. More on tendering, later.
Scheduling
Todd explained that today would be all about pre-plant herbicides in soybean and corn. The farmer tills, then CFS sprays, then the farmer tills again to incorporate the herbicide before planting.
Much of the scheduling is arranged over the previous winter, but plans had to be flexible to accommodate changeable weather. Case in point, there were originally six jobs scheduled for today, but two were added at 6 am when clients called to ask for last-minute service. The wet spring was keeping farmers off their fields, so planting pressure was mounting, and sprayer scheduling had been particularly tough. Todd tells people “We’re not 911 dispatch!”, but ultimately does his best to accommodate the short notice.
That’s when Brendan Bishop came in to collect me. This was Brendan’s second year as an operator having started in 2023 as a tender truck driver and “graduating” mid-season to spraying. As I followed him out, I wondered how he’d stack up compared to the older, more experienced operators I’d worked with. Spoiler: Brendan had skills.
The Sprayers
CFS owns a John Deere 410R and a 4038. They also have an operator on retainer who owns his own 4030. CFS used Rogator in the past and Apache before that. The Rogators featured a lot of flow capacity, making them great for spraying 28%. CFS switched to Deere for the service and to take advantage of a few technologies I’ll describe shortly, and now they can stream liquid fertilizer at rates as high as 46 gpa at 14 mph.
Today, we’d be in the 410R, which featured pulse width modulation (PWM) and boom recirculation. I was told that customers appreciated the optics of not wasting up to 40 gallons on priming. But the sprayer also featured direct injection from four, 50 gallon tanks, and that puzzled me. Why would a sprayer have two seemingly incompatible features? No one would inject product just prior to the manifold and then circulate it right back to contaminate the tank.
Brendan agreed that they were mutually exclusive, but both had roles in minimizing waste and downtime from priming, rinsing, and custom spray mixes. For example, an early pass over corn might have Marksman and Armezon PRO in the tank, and then Roundup could be direct injected at rates specific to the weed pressure. On the other hand, if he didn’t need direct inject for custom mixes, he could utilize recirculation to avoid priming.
The sprayer automatically disengaged recirculation when direct injection was operating. That restriction could be over-ridden, but you couldn’t run them both by accident. Nevertheless, his policy was to always take a breath before engaging either system because a mistake might be irreversible and require a purge and refill.
8:30
We left the yard and cruised down country roads at 40 mph until we hit the more populated regions. This part of Ontario had a lot of Mennonite residents, and their horse-drawn carriages required a wide berth. That got particularly tricky on narrow roads and single-lane bridges, but Brendan was patient and obviously practiced.
We arrived at our first field at 8:50. We parked at the edge and started unfolding the boom as Brendan called dispatch on the cab radio. The field was 15 acres of Roundup ready corn, and we’d be spraying a pre emerge herbicide in 28% UAN at a rate of 20 gpa. We knew all this before we ever left the yard thanks to CFS’s operations management system.
The AgLogic Operations Management System electronically assigns work orders (e.g. chemistry, field location, field boundaries) to the equipment, allowing dispatch to track, schedule and route their assets. It also pushes weather information and any special notes to the operator. The AgLogic tablet and the John Deere monitor are supposed to be compatible with one another, and it was generally slick, but there were a few glitches.
AgLogic and the Job Centre monitors showing how the boundaries were different for the same field. The operator has to make a commonsense call.
Dennis was on dispatch, and Brendan asked if he should send for Simon, their tender truck operator. He was going to need water for the next job and had planned this job to end as empty as possible. Dennis agreed to send him as Brendan noticed aloud how rough the ground was – this field had only just been plowed. Dennis said they’d had to wait for the farmer to plow and warned Brendan of a particularly bad patch that he was familiar with. Brendan signed off and smiled as he warned me to hold on tight. Then he hit start on the AgLogic work order, and we were off.
He wasn’t joking – this ride would have qualified as a theme park roller coaster. I’m sure I left hand and face prints all over his windshield. He had to turn off boom track and go manual and had to cut a second headland. It was hard to hold the rate steady because our 4 mph speed dropped the PWM to the minimum 25 PSI and the duty cycle was maxed out.
Eventually we got up to a roaring 7.7 mph and by 9:25 we were done with less than two gallons left in the tank. While I searched for my kidneys, Brendan entered the summary into AgLogic: 19.65 gpa. He added a few choice comments to the file and in less than a minute he was done. CFS now had the information for billing with no hardcover book for the operator to mess up and no bad penmanship to decipher. As I said, slick. Have a look at a field ticket, here.
9:30
We waited in the client’s yards for Simon. Brendan said he’d fill wherever he needed to; on the shoulder of the road or slinging the hose across a ditch into the field. But a client’s yard was always safer and therefore preferred. It was worth waiting.
According to the work order, the next job was 15 acres of Roundup burndown at 12.5 gpa, so Brendan was doing the math on how much water he’d need (plus one acre’s worth for buffer). Simon showed up at 9:42 and we were loaded by 9:45. Just before we hit the road Brendan called dispatch to ask where to send Simon next. Efficiency takes planning.
9:54
We parked at the field entry and Brendan engaged the recirculation to push the remaining UAN and pre-emerge in the lines back to the tank to dilute them. Then he turned it off, engaged the direct injection of Roundup, and started priming the boom. This sprayer featured Auto Boom Prime: The operator set a target displacement volume (in this case, 40 gallons) and when the flow meter reached that value, you were primed.
As we waited Brendan explained that we weren’t doing anything today that couldn’t handle a little Roundup, so even if it somehow did circulate back to the tank, it was no big deal. He started the work order log at 10:02 checked for any warnings associated with the field before we were off again.
This was a narrow field. So narrow that we would likely overlap in the middle just from spraying the boundary. Brendan drove that first side manually, cleaning up the corners and margins while skillfully dodging fenceposts as best he could. Nevertheless, we tested the breakaway section a few times. He was nonplussed and said that any operator claiming they’ve never nicked a tree or a fencepost is either too far away or lying.
I asked why he didn’t use fencerow nozzles with Roundup and he gave two good reasons: 1. If you succeed in burning out all the grasses, broadleaf weeds like burdock move in and cause new problems. 2. Overspray was too risky when the target field abuts another crop.
Regarding his second point, I saw what he meant as we turned to spray the rest of the boundary, right next to winter wheat. On the back of the joystick are the secondary controls, which Brendan used to nudge the boom a few inches left or right along A-B line, constantly adjusting for the wheat.
At 10:17 he closed the work order, which digitally winged its way back to CFS for accounting. We folded up and followed behind as we headed back to the yard for a refill. Going back made more sense than tendering since the yard was en route to the next job.
Tendering
CFS fills their 20,000 gallon holding tanks from their own well, which is 300 feet deep and rated at 4,000 gallons per hour. Instead of installing more holding tanks, they doubled the floats to half the refill time. In addition, they have a tractor-with-wagon tender system with a 4,000 gallon capacity (and four serial induction bowls). Their transport truck is strictly for carrier and has two, 4,000 gallon tanks. In total, they can have 32,000 gallons of water on hand.
They recently improved their transfer pumps to keep up with so many small acreage jobs. It used to take up to 25 minutes to fill a 4,000 gallon trailer. Now they can pump up to 480 gpm through 4” lines and fill that same trailer in less than 10 minutes. And they have two such fill systems so no one has to wait their turn.
Their efficiencies are now found in the logistics of planning jobs that avoid rinses and minimize sprayer travel time where possible. The company isn’t afraid of road miles, preferring to drive further between jobs to avoid having to clean out the sprayer. Floating the sprayer to save engine hours didn’t made economic sense for them since you needed a wide-load permit, time to un/load the sprayer and you couldn’t transport at night.
It wasn’t “Gone in 60 Seconds” but we weren’t there much longer than that.
10:57
The next job was an L-shaped field. Brendan noted that weird field shapes were par for the course. As we drove, he said that some fields were so tight that he had to fold the booms almost completely to fit while spraying. He said he’d sprayed fields that no 120’ boom had any business being in. He’d had sideview mirrors pushed against the cab and was happy the Deere plumbing wasn’t on the outside of the folded booms, because he’d been snagged by branches in other sprayers.
Speaking of the boom, he was using LDM 08 nozzles, and the height was set to 30”. He would have liked a lower boom, but it wasn’t realistic on these rough and rolling fields. This field was short and sweet, and we were soon headed out.
11:10
This field was 19 acres and once again I saw it was narrow, meaning a lot of manual spraying on the boundary and very little autosteer in the middle. Brendan scanned back and forth between the boom end, the monitor, and ahead of the sprayer as we drove along at 7.5 mph.
When I mentioned the lack of autosteer he said he didn’t get to use it as often as I might think. Many of the corn fields he sprayed were planted by farmers with no GPS, so while he did use the A-B lines, they were mainly to alert him to turns. The actual steering was manual as he followed the planting lines.
I should mention that Brendan established a new boundary for every field, even through AgLogic provided one. He elected to establish this new boundary because once he sprayed the perimeter the monitor could tell him exactly how much area was left to spray. So, he would spray the boundary, check the area remining, and use his cell phone to calculate the differential between the volume in the sprayer and the target rate. He did this now to ensure he had enough water for the last four acres. He wanted to end empty because he would be switching back to 28% UAN next. Based on his math, he pushed the rate to 20.5 gpa to use up the water.
These rate changes would be difficult (perhaps impossible) to achieve without PWM because it would be based on pressure changes, and not duty cycle. It might even require switching nozzles. This is also when direct inject shines as it could maintain the Roundup rate independent of the carrier rate. Brendan said that fields were somehow always bigger than expected, so he was a big fan of the flexibility these features afforded him.
11:28
Now we’re back in the yard to fill with 28% UAN. Brendan was planning on a six acre corn field in the Township of Southgate, which was about a 45 minute drive, so we had to fill precisely.
We arrived at 12:27 and had to ask the client where the field was on the property. Surprise! The client wanted us to do eight acres, or 25% more than we’d anticipated. There was no way we could stretch the load that far, so Brendan told him we’d drive all eight at a reduced rate and make up the remaining nitrogen later when he came back with drops. We adjusted the rate from 28.75 gpa UAN to 22.6 gpa and at 12:46 we were done spraying, and the job submitted.
12:51
Simon is back with water and Integrity for our next job in pre-emerge corn, which is why Brendan wanted to be empty of 28% UAN. By 1:02 we were full and headed to a 32 acre job spread over two fields. Brendan chose to do the smaller, four acre field first so if he had to make any rate changes in the second field, he could spread a smaller difference over more area. Clever.
But where was this little field? Turned out, it required us to drive through a swamp, flushing two ducks and a deer in the process. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we both started to laugh when we saw the field. The ground must have been plowed 10 minutes before we arrived because it looked like an earthquake had hit it.
There’s a good reason you don’t spray freshly plowed fields. Once again, I did my pinball impression and idly wondered if Deere didn’t install seat belts in the buddy seat because they were trying to dissuade people from using it. Even Brendan bounced around despite the air ride driver’s seat.
We were relieved that the larger of the two fields was a breeze. Brendan did his math trick and elected to nudge the 16.1 gpa up to 16.7 in order to end empty. By 1:45 we were off for our last tender of the day.
1:50
The last three jobs totaled 70 acres and required a single fill. We were moving into Roundup-ready soybean, so we’d be spraying Roundup Transorb HC (glyphosate) + Tavium (S-metolachlor and dicamba). Brendan said they’d clean the sprayer thoroughly afterwards if they had to, but it was preferable to schedule a series of corn fields for tomorrow because they wouldn’t be bothered by dicamba residue.
We met the tender wagon and Brendan and Simon started loading Tavium into the inductor bowls for transfer to the sprayer. Then Brendan hosed down each bowl to rinse them and transfer that rinsate into the sprayer as well. Afterwards Brendan used the inductor bowl on the side of the sprayer to rinse the jugs because he felt the water pressure was higher on the sprayer and did a better job of cleaning them out.
2:35
This was a 11.75 acre field, and it should have been simple… but it seemed nothing was. The work order map showed the digital boundary, but the actual plowed field was much larger. So, it was one continuous field and we were supposed to spray only part of it. Where exactly was the boundary?
Eventually Brendan spotted some unsprayed grass that hinted at where other equipment had driven in the past. That subtle visual cue would have been impossible for an operator to see in the dark.
As we positioned ourselves to start spraying we saw the note on the work order to “mind the garden”. Garden? What garden!?
Eventually “Eagle-eye” Brendan spotted a couple rusty, foot-long lengths of rebar hammered into the soil along the edge of the field. They were perfectly camouflaged to match the colour of the tilled earth, hungry to puncture the tires of the unsuspecting, and doing a very poor job of indicating a “garden”. Once finished, we primed the boom (40 gallons) on the field margin to have it ready for the next job.
3:05
According to the work order, this 37 acre job warned us of yet another small garden. This garden was emerged, making it easier to find, but also making it a nerve-wracking off-target risk. So, we literally steered clear of it, leaving a wide berth.
That didn’t stop the woman who was tending the garden from marching purposely out to sprayer to get Brendan’s attention. He stopped and braced himself as he climbed down to speak to her. We both expected he’d get an earful for spraying around those vegetables. After a brief exchange he climbed back into the cab and smiled. She didn’t chew him out – she chastised him for not getting close enough! You can’t win.
4:05
The last field was 20.5 acres. It was flat, square and promised to be a straight-forward end to a complicated day. We drove 9.6 mph on the headland and just as we were finishing the circuit, we saw tilled earth outside the boundary indicated on the monitor. Wait – is that bit planted, too? Are we supposed to spray that as well?
Brendan guessed it was an additional three acres. He’d asked Simon to load an extra acre’s worth of spray mix when we loaded, and I now understood why. He did some quick math and said we’d have enough if we dropped the rate a bit.
We coasted back and forth over the field, watching the remaining volume drop on the monitor, hoping we’d make it. We considered adding rinse water to the tank to thin the concentration. That would give us enough volume, but we’d be diluting the chemistry too much. Then we figured if we had to we could empty the tank just to the point of starving the pump, add water from the rinse tank and push the ~40 gallons left in the lines from behind.
The tiny, unsprayed strip caused the PWM to flutter between one and three nozzles on that last pass. Neither of us realized we were holding our breath as we watched the spray volume drain away on the monitor.
And then we were done! It was a photo finish and we both let out an explosive gasp as we started breathing again. It was such a narrow victory that we climbed out to look in the tank, and I’m here to tell you, it simply does not get any closer than this. We bragged like successful hunters all the way back to the yard and told anyone that would listen when we arrived at 5:00.
As I packed to leave, Brendan asked Dennis if he had to go clean out the sprayer. Dennis said a little dicamba would help tomorrow morning’s pre-emerge applications, so no. But he smiled as he warned “Although, betcha someone will call in at 6 am to ask for IP beans first.” Driving home, thankful for my comfortable car seat, I wondered if they would.
Take Homes
Planning ahead is always good advice. However for a custom applicator, it’s absolutely critical. The goal is to be efficient and effective with as little risk as possible, and you can’t accomplish that unless you know where you’re going, when you’re going there and what to expect when you arrive; and not just the immediate job but minimum three jobs ahead. When time, manpower and consumables equal money lost, the stakes are high to have a solid strategy before you leave the yard.
Then again, rigid planning can be A BIG MISTAKE… unless it includes planning for the unexpected. Almost without exception, these fields were not as advertised. Most were larger than anticipated, so knowing how to stretch a load (e.g. dilution, changing rates, carrying a little extra, using clean water to push spray mix from behind) meant we could roll with the punches without leftovers or deficits. One strategy was to spray smaller fields first, so larger remaining fields could absorb a smaller, distributed differential. Another was to spray the headlands, calculate the remaining area, then determine a rate that fits the remaining volume in the sprayer. This all assumes you performed some solid sprayer math when you loaded, of course.
Autosteer, while awesome, was not used near as much as I expected. Small, irregularly-shaped fields that were recently ploughed, abutting sensitive crops and land-mined with “no spray” gardens meant manual headlands (maybe two) and slow speeds. And when the client doesn’t use GPS to plant, you don’t use it to spray except to alert you to turns. Anyone that thinks the operator can be replaced by automation should ride along in these conditions. There are lots of situations where we still need grey-matter and experience behind the wheel.
