Tips to Make Sure Your Crop Protectant Hits Your Target

Thanks to rising input costs, it is more important than ever to make sure the crop protectant you apply hits the desired target. In addition to cost-saving reasons, Andrew Landers, a pesticide application technology specialist at Cornell University, says it is important to get proper crop coverage when spraying to control pests efficiently and effectively.

Without good coverage, growers run the risk of producing lower-quality produce, which will impact sales and lower yields. Disease or weeds will build up resistance if growers do not apply an adequate amount of product, adds Landers.

So how do growers know if the product is hitting the intended target? Landers says it starts with paying attention to the droplet size. Fine droplets tend to drift because they have very little mass. Therefore, he says, anything less than 150 microns will be regarded as drift prone.

“Growers don’t talk in microns,” Landers explains. “One micron equals 1/25,000 of an inch. A good analogy is that 100 microns is the thickness of a human hair.”

Wind also is a necessary component to achieve proper spraying — not too much and not too little. “Wind is significant; you need a slight breeze,” he adds.

Landers says that a minimum wind speed of 1 mile an hour is good for spraying. “If it is a calm day, some fine spray will evaporate and drift away and you won’t know where it will go. When you have a slight wind, you can see where the spray is going.”

To help determine wind speed, Landers suggests that growers buy a pocket wind meter. A pocket wind meter can be purchased for under $100.

Improving Technology

In the area of spray technology, Landers says we are seeing more research into boom design, specifically on boom suspension systems. It has been noted in some cases, particularly with potatoes, that growers wind up going over the same part of the field with their tractor every time they spray. The boom will bounce along with the tractor, giving growers variable coverage.

“With continually going over the same bump all the time, inaccurate application is made each time or successive times, resulting in higher disease levels in the places where the bounce occurred,” explains Landers. “In the Netherlands, there has been research showing the level of disease in relation to the bumps. If a grower has good boom suspension, he will get better coverage across the full width of the sprayer.”

Keeping safety at the forefront, Landers encourages growers to get induction hoppers and retrofit them on their sprayers. These induction hoppers speed up the time it takes to fill the sprayer and they help protect the operator, he says.

Located at knee height, the hopper fits on the side of the sprayer, or it can be a stand-alone component, he explains. The operator only has to refill at this height, avoiding climbing onto the sprayer and possibly spilling some of the contents.

In New York, Landers says he also is encouraging growers to add tank-rinsing devices to clean out the tanks after use. “Using a tank-rinsing device speeds up the tank-washing process, and it prevents pesticides from drying inside the tank, ultimately causing nozzle and strainer blockage,” he adds.