Coverage is King

In the case of fungicide applications, subsequent sprays fill in gaps left by previous sprays. If timing is prompt, residual activity will see you through.

We’ve often heard the adage “Coverage is King” but what does that mean, exactly? It means that in order for your spray application to yield acceptable results, a threshold amount of the active ingredient in your tank must end up on the target. But at what point have we achieved sufficient spray coverage without wastefully […]

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Adventures in Lecturing

Harvest is mostly done and growers want to hear what we’ve learned and what’s coming next. Lecture season is upon us once again. In 2021 we’re still finding our way through virtual conferences and hybrid models, but I like to think we’re slowly returning to the in-person format. Just last week I gave my first […]

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Establishing an optimal airblast carrier volume

An orchardist taught me this trick: If you want to know if spray will penetrate a canopy, you should be able to see sunlight through the shadow at high noon.

Thanks to Mark Ledebuhr of Application Insight LLC for his contributions to this article. North American product labels may or may not include carrier volume recommendations. When they do, it could be based on a two-dimensional value like the planted area, or perhaps on row length which is more appropriate for trellised crops that form […]

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Comparing three brands of water sensitive paper

Introduction Spray coverage describes the degree of contact between spray droplets and the target surface area. This metric can be used to predict the success of an application. One of the easiest methods for visualizing coverage is to use water sensitive paper (WSP), which is a passive, artificial collector that turns from yellow to blue […]

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Spraying asparagus in fern

Spraying asparagus in fern.

Prologue This research was performed in 2012 and since then there have been considerable advances in application technology for asparagus in fern that should be considered. Be sure to read the epilogue at the end of this article. Introduction Diseases such as purple spot can have major economic impacts for asparagus growers, and the best […]

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