Efficiency is vital as spray season gets into full swing

With the key autumn spray programmes fully underway in near perfect conditions, growers are being reminded to make the most of available spray days by maximising sprayer operation efficiencies this season.

Timing of applications, combined with good product selection, is being seen as key to delivering a successful autumn spray schedule over the coming weeks.

Cambridgeshire farmer, agronomist and sprayer specialist David Felce, says that with the days becoming shorter it is vital that farmers make the best use of spray windows while they can, as these will provide the best platform for specific herbicide or fungicide applications.

Timing is paramount for targeting weeds or crop disease, and while weve been very lucky this autumn so far with the good spraying conditions, shorter days and the recent turn in the weather can suddenly put the pressure on, says Mr Felce.

He believes that growers can also benefit from better selection of herbicide and fungicide products this season, maintaining that higher quality formulations result in better tank mixing, reduced downtime and greater efficacy in application.

A lot of man hours are lost each year during spraying operations because of product impurities lifting off the inside of the tank wall, causing blocked boom ends and nozzles, he suggests. Whereas products that achieve good tank mixes provide growers with a faster turnaround and a more even application of the active on the target.

Richard Peake, an adviser with Essex-based Harlow Agricultural Merchants (HAM) agrees that product choice can be critical in overall sprayer performance and efficiency.

He says that earlier this year, following problems with older formulations of widely used fungicide tebuconazole, he switched growers that had experienced severe blockages in their sprayers to Rotams 250g/l tebuconazole, Odin.

Tebuconazole has traditionally been a tricky mixer, particularly when mixed with older pyrethroids, explains Mr Peake, who claims that during 2009, some sprayers could apply the mix while others blocked up.

It was a lottery, he points out.

As a business wed always supported the old tebuconazole formulations, but the recent spray tank problems our growers experienced meant that we needed to look for new, and reliable, formulations that were available.

Odin was put through the same tanks and spray booms where wed seen the problems previously, but this time resulting in trouble-free applications, says Mr Peake.

And with that, we wont be supporting our previous tebuconazole formulations any more its not worth the risk, particularly at these key times in the season, he adds.

Rotam CropSciences Ltd conducts fully integrated research & development, registration, manufacturing, marketing and technical support on a worldwide basis. It operates in over 60 countries including the major agricultural markets of EU, Brazil and NAFTA and has 46 companies with worldwide presence. www.rotam.com