Greenhouse Insects The aesthetic value of ornamental plants requires a near-zero tolerance for insect pests, which cause up to 10% of crop losses per season. Controlling them with insecticides is a difficult proposition: Key pests such as thrips, aphids and whiteflies tend to feed on the underside of leaves – a notoriously difficult surface to […]
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Adjusting Sprayer Settings Operators are encouraged to adjust airblast sprayer settings to conform to the variability in canopy size, density, spacing, and weather conditions. The efficiency and accuracy of the application is improved through the regular and independent adjustment of travel speed, nozzle output, and air settings. Inflexible sprayer design results in a suboptimal match […]
The role of pressure is often underappreciated in spraying. Many airblast operators (still) don’t use rate controllers, so the only way to monitor sprayer pressure is using a single liquid-filled pressure gauge located near the pump… and it may not be trustworthy. An inaccurate pressure gauge may cause you to spray more or less product […]
Spray Buffer Zones Spray buffer zones are no-spray areas required at the time of application between the area being treated and the closest downwind edge of a sensitive terrestrial or aquatic habitat. Spray buffer zones reduce the amount of spray drift that enters downwind, non-target areas. Sensitive Terrestrial Habitats Sensitive terrestrial habitats can include hedgerows, […]
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In 2014 one of our OMAFRA summer students designed a short-and-gritty demonstration using a backpack sprayer, a variable-speed fan and some water-sensitive paper positioned downwind at 1.5 metre intervals. The intent was to illustrate how sprayer operators could reduce the potential for off-target drift by recognizing and accounting for three factors: Apparent wind speed (i.e. […]
Read More… from Three manageable factors that affect spray drift