Over the last few weeks, farmers have been busy with spraying operations whether it's for weeds, insects, or disease.
Dr. Tom Wolf, known to many as the nozzle guy, says the most important thing is always to get the product on target:
"We are having hot and dry conditions persistently. So, we ought to watch things like the relative humidity and the temperature. If it is a little hot and dry when we're spraying, it's always better to use coarser droplets they take longer to evaporate, which means they have a greater chance to be absorbed by the leaves. And of course, the side effects of using the course is great as always, and we can split into slightly higher wind conditions and get the work done."
He reminds producers to avoid spraying in the early morning, evening, or overnight in order to avoid temperature inversions which can be dangerous as it can move the product great distances without becoming diluted or dispersed.
Staying on top of new products and technology in the agriculture sector is key.
Wolf says there's never been a more exciting time for new technology adding that the rate of change is just simply amazing.
Last week, he took part in a field day in the U.S. where a new green-on-green sprayer was demonstrated by a company called Green Eye.
"The green-on-green revolution continues to amaze me. What a game-changer this could be if it's widely adopted. We're talking about spraying a quarter or a third of the pesticides that we're currently spraying by targeting individual weeds. And not only doing that in fallow or pre-burn but in-crop in our wheat, our canola, our soybeans. So really an amazing development and it's moving quickly and things are getting better. Hopefully, costs will stay reasonable, but we're certainly excited about that."
There's also a lot of interest in the use of drones in spraying.
Wolf says there are new drone models that are larger, more capable, with better software and better battery life.
"We are now seeing drones that can do 30 acres per hour. There only costing, I've looked at a price list, you can buy these drones for somewhere between 40 and $50,000 apiece. When you think about the per-acre cost. It's quite affordable. It's maybe 10 or 20 times cheaper than a conventional sprayer."
He cautions that Canada does not allow drone spraying of pesticides.
Seeding is allowed, as is fertilizer and some bacterial insecticides, but we're still waiting for a registrant (Bayer or BASF) to ask for registration of one of their products and for the PMRA to grant it.
Wolf thinks custom applicators may be among the first to really use the technology because of the cost and time involved in moving a sprayer back to a field they couldn't finish.
To hear Glenda-Lee's full conversation with Dr Tom Wolf click on the link below.
Wolf is a co-founder of the Sprayer 101 website.