# Steps To Better Spraying



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Successful Farming.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agriculture.com/machinery/farm-implements/sprayers/16-steps-to-better-spraying_230-ar41685


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Article is good one and also a good reminder to things you may be getting locks on, I know when they talk about nozzles some people are saying the old flat fans got a little better coverage in the AI nozzles. We won't use anything but air inducted nozzles we just don't want to take a chance with drift. One topic I've seen in discussion lately a lot is how much water carrier you use for roundup, we were running 10 gallons but we bump that up using 12 gallons per acre lot and sometimes 15 GPA depending on conditions. I know some guy spray Roundup at 5 to 6 GPA and there are some advantages to that but I worry about coverage


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Excellent article. We have, however, ditched our AI nozzles and went back to plain old XRC flat fans in search of better coverage on water hemp. We have loaded up on drift control agents and are very mindful of wind speed and direction and sensitive crop areas.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> Excellent article. We have, however, ditched our AI nozzles and went back to plain old XRC flat fans in search of better coverage on water hemp. We have loaded up on drift control agents and are very mindful of wind speed and direction and sensitive crop areas.


 you are correct it would be nice if the AI nozzles gave a little bit better coverage. We still stick with Ai nozzles, we run contact herbicides at their higher rate so we can go up to 15 gallons per acre and at 15 gpa those nozzles will give good coverage at least we think so and we still have the benefit of less drift,.


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

Fairly common sense article, all basic stuff but will admit I don't calibrate very often. I'm probably a bit different than most of you as I spray swaths and not fields, I would like the onboard wind monitor. I use boomless nozzles and have gotten away from plastic as they wear out to fast and gone with stainless steel hence the need to not calibrate as much. Since I only carry 100gal I run 10gal to the acre but do use the maximum mix of product. A word of advice on water hemp, if you don't get it pre-emerge you probably won't stop it, you might be able to hurt it post but a kill is doubtful, seen 5oz per acre dicamba(3 is recommended) not touch it.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

We are running 32 oz. Liberty at 20 gal per acre and it smokes water hemp. You have to run dicamba at least 16 oz. if you want to kill water hemp and it to needs 20 gpa.


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## DLN (Mar 8, 2017)

Basic common sense sprayer setup tips that not enough people think about. My experience in the spray business has opened my eyes to how poorly setup and calibrated a lot of peoples equipment is. Three things not mentioned that should be on any list about better spraying, at least in my experiences, and things a lot of people in my area dont do.

Reduced rates are breeding resistence and asking for trouble.

Gps, autosteer, and auto boom all together roughly 12000 in expense, will pay for itself in the first year on almost any size operation. Most dont realize just how much wasted expense they have in overlap and the speed and uniformity that is achieved is mind blowing.

This is the big one SURFACTANT, SURFACTANT, SURFACTANT. Worth its weight in gold.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

pede58 said:


> Fairly common sense article, all basic stuff but will admit I don't calibrate very often. I'm probably a bit different than most of you as I spray swaths and not fields, I would like the onboard wind monitor. I use boomless nozzles and have gotten away from plastic as they wear out to fast and gone with stainless steel hence the need to not calibrate as much. Since I only carry 100gal I run 10gal to the acre but do use the maximum mix of product. A word of advice on water hemp, if you don't get it pre-emerge you probably won't stop it, you might be able to hurt it post but a kill is doubtful, seen 5oz per acre dicamba(3 is recommended) not touch it.


 what type of boomless nozzle do you use ?what is your width of coverage? How do you mount them and I am asking because I have some land I might want to spray with an ATV, could use some pictures


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

I use Boominator nozzles, 5 in all with 6 different sprays. 2 center mount about 2in apart, left or right to 17ft or combined swath figuring overlap 30ft, as with any boomless nozzle it degrades pretty good on the outer edge. 2 mounted outside edge, ones a road nozzle to 18ft, other sprays inward to 17ft and 1 center to 16ft. 7gpm and 1gpm pumps plus 2 hand wands, valve assembly swings forward.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

DLN said:


> Basic common sense sprayer setup tips that not enough people think about. My experience in the spray business has opened my eyes to how poorly setup and calibrated a lot of peoples equipment is. Three things not mentioned that should be on any list about better spraying, at least in my experiences, and things a lot of people in my area dont do.
> Reduced rates are breeding resistence and asking for trouble.
> Gps, autosteer, and auto boom all together roughly 12000 in expense, will pay for itself in the first year on almost any size operation. Most dont realize just how much wasted expense they have in overlap and the speed and uniformity that is achieved is mind blowing.
> This is the big one SURFACTANT, SURFACTANT, SURFACTANT. Worth its weight in gold.


I have had GPS, autosteer, and auto boom since 2010 and I can't imagine going to the field with out it. Once I spray the first headland around the field, the only button or control I push is the auto steer button. Absolutely no skips or overlaps.


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## DLN (Mar 8, 2017)

haybaler101 said:


> I have had GPS, autosteer, and auto boom since 2010 and I can't imagine going to the field with out it. Once I spray the first headland around the field, the only button or control I push is the auto steer button. Absolutely no skips or overlaps.


Yep the human error element is that big, and its that way in every thing from planting to haying.


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

I do run GPS but the rest is not an option for me, most of what I do is to a 12ft width, we were doing 6acre plots in the past so we mounted a lite bar guidance system. I'm headed out today to do a 2 acre power substation, GPS is totally worthless here but can see what I've sprayed in the gravel.


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## DLN (Mar 8, 2017)

I agree with you there pede58, I do a lot of atv/utv stuff and dont use any of the stuff in that application. Especially with boomless nozzles, terrain, wind, etc etc can have a guy adjusting his swath widths almost constantly.

90-120ft booms on a large rigs is where the application shines.


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

There is or was an Aussi company that had a pretty nice cruse control for ATV/UTV's but was finding it had to justify $1500, it would actually adjust speed up and down hills, I instead set all my nozzles up for 10mph a fairly easy speed to maintain.


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