Manual spraying equipment – doing more with less!
Orchards and vineyards often present an access problem for large vehicle mounted sprayers and granule distribution systems. For smaller growers vehicle mounted sprayers may not even be an option or be warranted. Thankfully, there are sophisticated manual sprayers and accessories that can make any spraying job quick, easy and, most importantly, cost effective.
Getting the right equipment for the right job
Fertilisers, insecticides, fungicides and other pesticides come in three common forms: powder, liquid and granules. The distribution of these different formats requires equipment that will deliver the chemical in the correct doses to only where it is needed. Poorly designed or incorrect equipment will result in under or over dosing or in the delivery of products to the wrong areas. This is not only wasteful, it can also result in damage to the surrounding environment.
When buying manual spraying equipment, look for professional user quality products which aid the most accurate and consistent distribution of whatever format of product you are using and which are robust and tough in design.
Backpack sprayers and accessories
For simple liquid-spraying jobs, backpack sprayers come in a range of sizes, materials (bioplastic versions are available) and can be manually pumped or battery powered. Advantages are that they are inexpensive, robust and that they can come with a range of clever accessories which make them multifunctional, increasing targeting accuracy and allowing precision dosing which makes the most of every drop of product. For example, horizontal and vertical front or rear booms with four or six nozzles mean a large amount of ground can be covered relatively quickly while telescopic lances can reach up into higher foliage. A unique dosing accessory such the Guarany Dosimeter Valve can be used with any sprayer to exactly determine the amount – between 2ml-25ml – of product dispensed with every pull of the trigger.
Granule Applicators
For the accurate distribution of granulated or powdered products, and to save your back from repeated bending, there are clever backpack and handheld granule applicators. These can be used to broadcast product over a large area or can deliver precise doses to a discrete area (e.g. the base of tree or shrub). The Guarany Granule Injector even delivers granules under the soil.
Foggers
Foggers & nebulisers can be extremely useful for the delivery of treatments into areas of dense foliage as well as for use against pathogens and pests in fruit storage areas. The Guarany Backpack Nebuliser (right) is a motor-powered backpack which can distribute liquid, powdered or granulated product. Its very powerful air current can convey the product up to 12 metres.
ULV Sprayers
For large areas of weeds, for example, ultra low volume (ULV) sprayers such Mankar ULV sprayers (available in a regular and wheeled version) are worth considering. These are a sophisticated version of controlled droplet application (CDA) sprayers and enable neat product to be used. What this means is that you can use between 50% and 80% less actual active ingredient per area and still get the same weed killing power. In addition the huge reduction in overall spray volume and the elimination of fine droplets means that operator contamination is reduced to negligible levels when compared to conventional sprayers.
