Con
We have been using this technology for years as a flat fan for
herbicide application. The results have been very good, drift greatly
reduced and pressures reduced. This past season we started using them
on our air blast sprayer to a limited degree. Thus far, they may be
reducing drift, though it is less obvious. If I remember
correctly,Andrew Landers of Cornell has been promoting the use of
these nozzles as a way of reducing drift without compromising
coverage. Maybe someone could forward the question on to him.
You might want to try substituting a couple of nozzles on a side at a
time, and watch results. Water sensitive cards are a good way to
observe results.
It seems as though we have focused on many other tactics for reducing
pesticide usage over the past several years, but are for the most
part using 50+ year old technology. I'd like to see some work looking
at the use of this nozzle technology at lower pressures, ie, under
100psi and some work identifying a more accurate measure of minimum
dose requirements for individual orchards, and economical means of
adjusting/controlling our sprayers to deliver that dose. This should
not be rocket science, but methods that are transferable to our
operations at reasonable costs.
Mo Tougas
Tougas Family Farm
Northborough,MA
On Feb 20, 2007, at 9:10 AM, Con.Traas wrote:
Hello all,
I am considering trying the new drift-reducing Albuz hollow cone
nozzles (see http://www.albuz.saint-gobain.com/anglais/
nouveautes.asp), which are supposed to give far bigger droplet
sizes (apparently each drop is made up of many mini-drops mixed
with air bubbles), which break up into optimal size droplets on
impact with plant foliage. Have any of you used this type of
technology for fungicides (or insecticides) and what do you think
of it?
Con Traas
The Apple Farm
Moorstown
Cahir
Co. Tipperary
Ireland
