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Air Blast Exercise to post

Air-Blast Sprayer Lab Exercise IPM seeks to reduce pesticide applicat...
Course

Integrated Pest Management (PLTH 108)

9 Documents
Students shared 9 documents in this course
Academic year: 2019/2020
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California State University Fresno

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Kelsey Galvan Air-Blast Sprayer Lab Exercise PLANT 163 – Spring 2020

A. Introduction IPM seeks to reduce pesticide applications in agriculture by applying chemical control only when economic damage is likely. Consequently, it is of chief importance that when a pesticide is recommended it is also applied correctly. A common issue in orchard and vine crops is incorrect application of pesticides due to applicator error and incorrectly calibrated air-blast sprayers. While I am out of town we will cover air-blast sprayer calibration in lieu of a lab activity. Please watch the video posted to the lab 4 module, and complete this handout before the beginning of lab next week.

B. Calibration Many of you may have experience calibrating spray equipment. Spray volume is measured in GPM, or Gallons of pesticide solution put out by the spray rig every minute. As you can imagine the volume of pesticide put out can vary widely depending on the amount and type of nozzles being used, the amount of pressure being used to expel the solution, the speed of the applicator equipment, and how much of the field is being treated in one pass. Traditionally a simple equation has been used to calculate this GPM:

GPM = Gallons per minute GPA = Gallons per acre MPH = Speed of sprayer in miles per hour W = Row width (in feet or inches for a band spray) NOTE: For an air-blast sprayer W is the row width in inches divided by the number of nozzles being used during the application

  1. Using the equation above calculate the GPM needed per nozzle to spray an almond orchard under the following conditions: a. GPA – 200 b. MPH – 1. c. W – 20 feet d. 24 nozzles total

GPM= 200 x 1 x / 5940 = 0 GPM/nozzle

2. Using the TeeJet catalog (teejet/media/461405/cat51a_us.pdf) find the TXR ConeJet nozzle (p. 42) and PSI combination that most closely matches the required GPM. NOTE: Use page 42 of the catalog by using the page numbers found in the bottom corners of the page. Do not use the page search function at the top of the PDF reader. Typing 42 in that box will send you to the wrong page. a. What is the GPM of this nozzle? 0. b. What color is the nozzle? orange

c. What PSI do we need to run it at to get the desired GPM? 280 PSI

Not a bad choice, though Orange TXR8002vk is marginally better at 280PSI, with a rate of 0.

  1. A storm is coming, and there are still several blocks to spray. You decide to increase the speed of the spray rig to 2 MPH to cover more ground. a. How does this impact your GPM?  GPM= 200 x 2 x 5940= 0 – 0 = 0.  If we increased the speed to 2 MPH and kept the same pressure and nozzle calibration, our GPM would be too low to keep up w/ the ground speed. b. How should you change the PSI and/or nozzle configuration to account for this? Use p. 42 (TXR ConeJet Nozzles) from the TeeJet catalog for your answer.  Our new desired rate should be 0 GPM/nozzle to make up for the increase in speed. We should change the PSI to 120 and use Dark Blue nozzle TXR80049VK

There are several options that are stronger than this such as the Dark Blue nozzle at 120PSI (rate = 0)

  1. You are applying a pesticide where the desired GPM is 0. You have green TXR ConeJet Nozzles (p. 42 TeeJet catalog), which will put out 0 GPM at 160 PSI, and black nozzles that will put out 0 GPM at 160PSI.

a. What combination of these two nozzles will get you closest to an average of 0 per nozzle if you have 24 nozzles total?

 0 x 22 nozzles = 15 GPM  0 x 2 nozzles = 1.  15 + 1/24 = 0 GPM  I would use a combination of 22 green nozzles (0) and 2 black nozzles (0) to achieve a desired GPM of 0.

C. Droplet size (and the influence of PSI and Nozzle selection) When applying a pesticide the air-blast sprayer aerosolizes the pesticide solution, meaning it breaks the liquid in the tank into small droplets that can easily spread through the air. Droplet size is important to pesticide applications because it determines our coverage, penetration, and drift potential. In general large drops provide less coverage, but drift less and provide better penetration. Smaller drops provide better coverage, but drift more and have less penetration. The most important factors in drop size are our nozzle choice and PSI (the same tools in used to attain the desired GPM). Considering this, an applicator must be careful to select a nozzle and PSI that not only provides the desired GPM, but also the appropriate drop size for their application.

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Air Blast Exercise to post

Course: Integrated Pest Management (PLTH 108)

9 Documents
Students shared 9 documents in this course

University: California State University Fresno

Was this document helpful?
Kelsey Galvan
Air-Blast Sprayer Lab Exercise
PLANT 163 – Spring 2020
A. Introduction
IPM seeks to reduce pesticide applications in agriculture by applying chemical control only
when economic damage is likely. Consequently, it is of chief importance that when a pesticide is
recommended it is also applied correctly. A common issue in orchard and vine crops is incorrect
application of pesticides due to applicator error and incorrectly calibrated air-blast sprayers.
While I am out of town we will cover air-blast sprayer calibration in lieu of a lab activity. Please
watch the video posted to the lab 4 module, and complete this handout before the beginning of
lab next week.
B. Calibration
Many of you may have experience calibrating spray equipment. Spray volume is
measured in GPM, or Gallons of pesticide solution put out by the spray rig every minute. As you
can imagine the volume of pesticide put out can vary widely depending on the amount and type
of nozzles being used, the amount of pressure being used to expel the solution, the speed of the
applicator equipment, and how much of the field is being treated in one pass. Traditionally a
simple equation has been used to calculate this GPM:
GPM = Gallons per minute
GPA = Gallons per acre
MPH = Speed of sprayer in miles per hour
W = Row width (in feet or inches for a band spray) NOTE: For an air-blast sprayer W is the
row width in inches divided by the number of nozzles being used during the application
1. Using the equation above calculate the GPM needed per nozzle to spray an almond
orchard under the following conditions:
a. GPA – 200
b. MPH – 1.5
c. W – 20 feet
d. 24 nozzles total
GPM= 200 x 1.5 x / 5940 = 0.505 GPM/nozzle
2. Using the TeeJet catalog (http://teejet.it/media/461405/cat51a_us.pdf) find the TXR
ConeJet nozzle (p. 42) and PSI combination that most closely matches the required GPM.
NOTE: Use page 42 of the catalog by using the page numbers found in the bottom
corners of the page. Do not use the page search function at the top of the PDF
reader. Typing 42 in that box will send you to the wrong page.
a. What is the GPM of this nozzle?
0.507
b. What color is the nozzle?
orange

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