Stop and Spray the Roses – More Efficiently!

Spraying roses.

Article co-written with Jennifer Llewellyn, former OMAFRA Nursery Crops Specialist. Nursery growers apply pesticides to a diverse range of plant species. In a perfect world, sprayer operators would adjust their sprayer set-up to match each crop, but this is rarely done because of time constraints and a lack of guidance. Adjustments in product rate and spray distribution […]

Read More… from Stop and Spray the Roses – More Efficiently!

If I had a Low Drift Nozzle

Sung to the tune of “If I had a Rocket Launcher” by Bruce Cockburn Here comes the John Deere sprayer — second time today; All the insects scatter and hope it goes away; How many larvae murdered only Dow can say; If I had a low drift nozzle… I’d make somebody spray. I don’t believe […]

Read More… from If I had a Low Drift Nozzle

The Fundamental Relationship – Understanding variables and common conversion factors used in calibration

The Fundamental Relationship, a concept by Professor D. Ken Giles (Emeritus), UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, is a way of talking about calibration without numbers and formulas. It is valuable for teaching concepts important to calibration. Since it is a relationship, it describes the variables needed and how they relate to each other. […]

Read More… from The Fundamental Relationship – Understanding variables and common conversion factors used in calibration

Airblast Nozzles – The Nozzling Process

Establishing an airblast nozzling solution is an involved process. We must first define the working parameters and flush out any special circumstances. Then we use an iterative approach to identify suitable nozzle combinations that require minimal changes to the sprayer. This article outlines my process step-by-step and then applies it to a hypothetical orchard scenario. […]

Read More… from Airblast Nozzles – The Nozzling Process

The Label Summary Sheet Proposal

We’ve identified and discussed shortcomings in the content and design of today’s pesticide labels in an earlier article. From the perspective of the spray applicator, the information needed most often can be difficult to locate, anachronistic, contradictory, subjective or even missing from the label altogether. To truly encourage an applicator to read and follow the label we need a consistent, concise and […]

Read More… from The Label Summary Sheet Proposal