We experimented with a ULV shielded applicator (Bubco) for herbicide
applications in our research orchards many years ago. In our hillside
orchards, the shield was never low enough on the down-hill side, and we killed
a number of trees by hitting trunks with concentrated glyphosate. Unless you
have a lot of money to waste, you should absolutely NEVER NEVER apply
glyphosate in apples or stone fruits with a CDA applicator. No matter how well
shielded they are, you will end up damaging trees. They may work OK on grapes
and some other crops, especially on flat land, but I would never suggest that
the risk is worth the benefit for apples and stone fruits. DCA applicators may
work OK for applying gramoxone (and some other herbicides??) because any
gramoxone drift that escapes will only cause yellow spots on leaves (white
spots on fruit) without becoming systemic within the trees.
Work by Hanna Mathers at Ohio State has shown that sub-lethal glyphosate
exposure (via leaves or through the bark on young trees) will reduce winter
hardiness. I have seen several orchards over the course of my career that were
destroyed by drift of glyphosate into lower limbs followed by a cold winter.
You can do this without buying a CDA applicator if your higher-volume herbicide
sprayer is not shielded and generates a lot of small drift-prone droplets.
Nevertheless, applying a high concentration solution of glyphosate to apples
with a sprayer specifically designed to generate very small droplets is the
business equivalent of playing Russian roulette.
****************************************************************
Dave Rosenberger, Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology
Cornell’s Hudson Valley Lab, P.O. Box 727, Highland, NY 12528
Office: 845-691-7231 Cell: 845-594-3060
http://blogs.cornell.edu/plantpathhvl/blog-2014/
****************************************************************
On Oct 30, 2014, at 9:21 AM, Matt Pellerin
<m...@treworgyorchards.com<mailto:m...@treworgyorchards.com>> wrote:
I have been researching different options for herbicide application in my
orchard and came across Mankar ULV herbicide applicators.
http://www.mankarulv.com/ The company promotes its shielded CDA applicators as
virtually drift-free. However, I have read in some apple publications that the
small droplets made by CDA applicators are inherently prone to drift. Does
anyone have any clarifying information or experience with this equipment?
Thanks,
--
Matthew Pellerin
Agricultural Manager
Treworgy Family Orchards
3876 Union St
Levant, ME 04456
www.treworgyorchards.com<http://www.treworgyorchards.com/>
207-884-8354
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