Low-loss spraying

“Low-loss spraying“ is a new application technique which has been developed by the Association of Styrian Commercial Fruit Growers (Austria), the Marktgemeinschaft Bodenseeobst (Germany) and the South Tyrolean Extension Service for Fruit- and Winegrowing (Italy) and is being put into practice at present. These three fruit-growing regions, which use for the most part the same sprayer types, are faced with new challenges: larger areas per sprayer with higher trees, also in intensive orchards, than in the past (up to 4 m), stricter standards regarding drift reduction, power consumption and noise. The pivotal element of this new application technique is an optimized and controlled air blast. The direction and intensity of the air stream are important factors for the coverage and the losses caused by spray drift. Therefore, the professional school for fruit-growing at Gleisdorf (Austria) constructed an air-flow test bench, which served as a model for three new test stands, which were bought by the Marktgemeinschaft Bodenseeobst, the South Tyrolean Extension Service and the manufacturer of spraying equipment Lochmann. In addition to the usual legal requirements, “low-loss” sprayers have to be equipped with a fan producing an appropriate vertical distribution of the air, drift-reducing flat jet injector nozzles at the top and hollow-cone nozzles below them as well as standardized test ports for the pump and pressure gauge. It is indispensable for the grower to have access to appropriate training and counselling in order to be able to adjust his sprayer in an optimal way to the shape of his trees with regard to air flow, water and pesticide amount, pressure, forward speed and rotation speed of the PTO.