We are delighted to introduce the Mankar range of ultra low volume (ULV) sprayers for highly effective weed control with dramatically reduced herbicide usage.
What is an ultra low volume (ULV) sprayer?
Where conventional backpack sprayers use water pressure (created by manual pumping) and a nozzle to break fluid apart into droplets, these ultra low volume sprayers use a different technology – a spinning disc that spins the liquid very fast, breaking it into very uniform droplets around 80-100 microns (these are actually medium-sized droplets – not tiny droplets as you might have read – but smaller than achieved by a conventional sprayer).
In a conventional sprayer, you need the water pressure to create a flow rate sufficiently high to produce a spray which is why active ingredients such as agrochemicals are added to water. In these solutions, 95% will be water so the active product is considerably diluted. If you were to just use the active chemical in these conventional sprayers far too much chemical would be applied. If you reduced the nozzle size to one which could apply the correct dose, the nozzle would be so small that it would require a high pressure to create a spray and the nozzle would constantly clog. Additionally, the sprays produced would be so fine they would waft off target in the slightest wind. In other words, the small misting nozzles required for such low flow rates are simply not practical.
Why use a ULV sprayer?
With the ULV method, water pressure is not needed to get sufficient flow rate so you can use the active product ‘neat’. The spinning disc technology produces a good, sensible drop size but with very low flow rates. The application of neat product means you get far less run off and wastage. This means the product being sprayed, in our case agrochemicals, goes further, saving money and, as you can see from the testimonial below, time. With our Mankar equipment, the amount of herbicide required can be considerably reduced, e.g. by up to 50% with Roundup® PowerFlex on cultivated areas and by up to 80% when using weed sensors on areas with patchy weeds.
Mankar equipment also means the active product is more precisely targeted which is much better for the surrounding environment and the sprayers are easier and less physically demanding to use than a backpack sprayer. Furthermore, you don’t need a water supply near by to use them.
Testimonial – ‘This investment has a pay back of under one year!’
“We have a 60 ha. nursery specialised in the cultivation of yew trees and conifers and for over 20 years, we have used MANKAR® ULV sprayers in order to control the weeds between the seedlings. With conventional sprayer the risk of damage to the plants is far too big, therefore we decided on MANKAR® very early. Before, a large number of workers picked the weeds by hand but with MANKAR® all the work can be done by just one person, without the risk of damaging the young trees. In the past, we had a MANKAR-P 50 and now, we work with the latest MANKAR-TWO-S 25 Flex. It saves us a lot of time, and is very economic. This investment has a pay-back of under one year! We are very satisfied with MANKAR®.“
Arno van Nunen, Nursery Arno van Nunen, Veldhoven (Netherlands)
If you would like to book a demonstration or to learn more about the Mankar ULV Sprayers, please contact Malcolm on malcolm@prosprayers.co.uk or 07425 892873.
