This article was co-written with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA Weed Management Specialist – Field Crops The time and attention spent during sprayer loading is a worthy investment. It ensures that the products in the tank perform as intended and reduces the chance of physical incompatibilities. The label Pesticide labels are always the first point of reference. […]
Where crops are planted in rows, growers can save on chemical costs and reduce potentially wasted spray by performing banded applications. A banded application is treating parallel bands (Figure one), unlike a broadcast application where the entire area is treated (Figure two). This means only a portion of the field or orchard/vineyard floor receives spray, […]
Next to sprayer math, cleaning the sprayer is one of the more distasteful aspects of airblast spraying. It’s time-consuming, you never really know when you’re finished, and sprayer manufacturers and pesticide labels offer only limited guidance. Clean sprayer rinsate often looks and smells exactly like contaminated sprayer rinsate. When airblast sprayers are not cleaned as […]
Sprayer math is important. It ensures the operator applies the correct product rate and has enough to complete the job. But, it assumes the airblast sprayer is behaving as expected… and it often doesn’t. After confirming the airblast travel speed, use one of the following methods to assess sprayer output. There are pros and cons […]
Read More… from Validate airblast output – nozzle calibration
This article describes a method for assessing airblast sprayer coverage based on a protocol developed by Dr. David Manktelow (Applied Research and Technologies Ltd., NZ). It was co-written with David Manktelow and Mark Ledebuhr (Application Insight, LLC, USA). An older article describing canopy coverage assessment can be found here. Why assess coverage? Airblast sprayer configuration […]