I have a small (3 acres) established orchard on M7 that I have worked for about 10 years. I have some new land about 15 miles away that I have began planting a new orchard using the Tall Spindle method. I only have about one acre planted now, but it will end up being about 5 acres of apples as PYO. I also have peaches and blackberries.
I have been planning on purchasing a new airblast sprayer for the new orchard in the future so that I don't have to haul it and my tractor back and forth from each place. And it is hard to get good spray timing when the sprayer is at the other orchard. However, do I need an airblast with the tall spindle system? With the M7 trees and bigger you need the air to push through the tree to ensure good coverage, but with the M9s the canopy is so much smaller. Could you not use a tower type sprayer with-out the airblast? Drift would be greatly reduced (a big deal with organic farms on surrounding my property), Tractor requirements would be less allowing for tighter row spacing, and obviously the cost would be less. What would be the down side? Poor coverage of the underside of the leaves due to no swirling air? Droplet size too large? Thanks Tatum Stewart Stewart Orchard Ashland City and Nashville, TN
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