13 Tips to Improve Sprayer Performance
Erdal Ozkan
  

Paying attention to certain things will help you improve the accuracy and performance of your sprayer  save you money. Applying chemicals with a sprayer that is not calibrated and operated accurately could cause insufficient weed, insect or disease control which lead to reduced yields. The following tips will help you improve the performance of your sprayer and keep it from failing you:

• Check the gallon per acre application rate of the sprayer. This can only be determined by a thorough calibration of the sprayer.

• Check your spray nozzles' output periodically for clogging. How the chemical is deposited is as important as the amount applied. Know what kind of nozzles are on your sprayer and whether or not their patterns need to be overlapped for complete coverage.

• Setting the proper boom height for a given nozzle spacing is extremely important in achieving proper overlapping. Conventional flat-fan nozzles require 50% overlapping.

• Misaligned nozzles, nozzle tips with different fan angles on the boom, clogged nozzles and uneven boom height are the most common causes of no-uniform spray patterns. They can all cause streaks of untreated areas that result in insufficient pest control and economic loss.

• Use water in your sprayer that looks clean enough to drink. You don't have time to clean plugged nozzles.

• Never use a pin, knife or any other metal object to unclog nozzles. They will change the spray pattern or flow rate of the nozzle.

• Know your actual travel speed, and keep it steady as possible. Doubling the speed may let you cover the field twice as fast, but it also cuts the application rate in half.

• Pay attention to spray pressure. Variations in pressure will cause changes in application rate, droplet size and spray pattern. At very low pressures, the spray angle will be noticeably narrowed.

• Don't waste your chemical. After all, you have paid for it. Spray drift wastes more chemicals than anything else. Don't spray when the wind speed is likely to cause drift. Don't take the risk of getting sued by your neighbors because of the drift damage on their fields. Keep the spray pressure low if it is practical to do so, or replace conventional  nozzles with low-drift nozzles. Use other drift reduction strategies: keep the boom close to the target, use drift retardant adjuvants, and spray in early morning and late afternoon when drift potential is less.

• Calibrate your sprayer periodically during spraying season to keep it at peak performance. Use clean water while calibrating to reduce the risk of contact with chemicals.

• Carry extra nozzles, washers, other spare parts, and tools to repair simple problems quickly in the field.

• Clean your sprayer as often as possible and do a thorough clean-up at the end of the spray season.

• Be safe. Pesticides are poisons. Read the chemical and equipment instructions and follow them. Wear protective clothing, rubber gloves and respirators when calibrating the sprayer, doing the actual spraying and cleaning the equipment.

 

Erdal Ozkan, Professor and Extension Agricultural Engineer, can be reached at 614-292-3006 or ozkan.2@osu.edu.