Electrical charging of droplets to reduce spraying costs

Press, 16 August 1985, Page 19

Electrical charging of droplets to reduce spraying costs

The electrical charging of spray droplets to make them stick to pUnts is the most significant “ pe on the horizon for farmers looking for reduced spraying costs, says Methven spray contractor Philip Wareing. Mr Wareing looked at developments in the “electrodyne” field when in the United Kingdom on a Lincoln College Foundation Award two years ago. “It appears to be the one development which offers the genuine prospect of requiring less chemical to get the same result. I looked at the work ICI were doing and it’s got tremendous promise.

“I only hope they are able to solve some of the technical difficulties with the technique which they were encountering at that stage," he said. Because of farmer concern about rising chemical costs, Philip Wareing was also very interested in the attitude of United Kingdom cropping farmers and researchers to the controlled droplet application (CDA) method of applying chemical.

“As opposed to New Zealand, it is not promoted in the United Kingdom as a chemical-reducing technique at all.

“It is promoted only because of its ability to carry

less water, giving less down-time for filling up in adverse spraying conditions. "I was there for 31 days of their spraying season, but during that time there was only three days when the weather was suitable for spraying. So it’s obviously important for them to get across paddocks quickly and CDA helps out there,” said Mr Wareing. He said the instances of interrupted spraying activity were spectacularly obvious — the familiar poppy is a problem weed in arable areas and these indicated quite clearly portions of paddocks which were left unsprayed because of the onset of bad weather.