Perspective on rates, volumes and coverage

This short article is a thought exercise designed to give some perspective on chemical rates, carrier volumes and the foliar area we expect them to protect. Imagine we are spraying the fungicide Captan on highbush blueberry. In Canada, the label rate is to apply 2kg/ha (28.5oz/ac) of planted area. Captan is 80% active ingredient, so […]

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What’s the Relationship Between Vapour Drift and Inversions?

Drift symptoms can take a few weeks to be discovered, and to figure out the cause, people need to reconstruct the conditions during the application in question. Wind direction is the easiest. But when we consider factors like inversions, volatility, calm conditions, and others used to explain the movement of pesticides, it can quickly become […]

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Categorizing air-assist sprayers by air-handling design

This article was co-developed with Mark Ledebuhr of Application Insight, LLC. Air handling systems Air handling systems can be specialists or generalists; some are designed to do one thing very well while others are more adaptable but not as precise. Fan type plays a big role in determining a sprayer’s abilities. Their native characteristics make […]

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Nozzle Selection for Boom Sprayers

Sprayer nozzle Turret

Picking the correct nozzle for a spray job can be a daunting task.  There is a lot of product selection, and a lot of different features.  We try to break the process down into four steps. 1. Identify Your Needs Before making any assumptions about the right nozzle for you, review your needs and objectives. […]

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Pesticide Safety for Student Workers

This article is based on a presentation by Dr. Melanie Filotas, who delivered it as part of the 2019 agriculture summer student orientation day. Most crops are sprayed with organic or synthetic pesticides at some point during the growing season. Use caution before entering any area where crops are grown (e.g. corn field, nursery, greenhouse, orchard […]

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