PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
HERBICIDE APPLICATION EQUIPMENT.
Like formulations, application equipment is improving all the time, eg digital controls can keep equipment
in line and improve application of chemicals and fertilizers, causing less plant damage.
SPRAY
APPLICATIONS
HERBICIDES ARE DILUTED mostly with water to aid even distribution over
the area to be sprayed. The volume of water carrier can affect both the
efficiency of weed control and the selectivity of the herbicide.
High volume (HV) applications are usually greater than 1,000 litre spray/ha.
Low volume (LV) applications usually range from 100 – 400 litre spray/ha.
Ultra-low volume (ULV) applications are usually less than 5 litre spray/ha, small
volumes of spray to treat large areas. Spray domes prevent drift.
SPRAY APPLICATION EQUIPMENT, eg
Hydraulic sprayers, eg knapsacks, power sprayers, trailer sprayers, booms.
ULV (ultra-low volume).
– Ground applications of various types, eg Micron Herbi.
– Aerial applications which are used for large areas or situations which are
inaccessible to ground equipment, eg field crops, pastures, forest areas,
firebreaks, electricity lines, mountainous areas, etc.
GRANULE
DISPENSERS
WIPERS
DISPOSABLE
SELF-DISPENSING
APPLICATORS
HAND-HELD, LARGER TYPES
A few residual soil-active herbicides, eg pre-emergents, are formulated as
small granules which are spread over moist soil at an even rate.
A spreader or shaker is usually required to obtain uniformity and it must be
carefully calibrated before application starts. Herbicides are applied dry not mixed
with water.
Incorporation. Sometimes the granules have to be worked mechanically into the
upper few centimetres of soil while others are moved into the top centimeters of
soil by rain or irrigation.
Activation. The herbicide must be dissolved by water in the soil, by rain or
irrigation and taken up by the roots of the germinating seeds.
SELECTIVE WIPERS
Application is a means of selectively wiping tall weeds with glyphosate, a
non-selective herbicide. Shorter crop plants are unaffected.
Hand-held units used in home gardens while larger tractor units are used in turf and
broadacre farming.
Ropewick applicators wipe a very small amount of concentrated translocated
herbicide onto shoots of the weeds to be killed.
– Product is diluted as per label directions for use with a very small amount of
water and is carried from the reservoir to the ropewick by gravity and capillary
action so that there is a uniform flow of herbicide along the rope-wick.
– The ropewick is moved along just above or beside the crop so that it
contacts the foliage of the weeds but not the crop. By only wiping the
herbicide onto the weeds a high degree of selectivity is achieved.
– Home garden wipers may have a brush instead of a wick.
LARGE RANGE OF APPLICATORS including:
Hose-connected spray packs
Gun
Aerosols
Hose-on Gun Weeding brush
STEM
TREATMENTS
RANGE OF EQUIPMENT FOR TREATING STEMS
Frill treatment
Cut stump (hack and squirt)
Stem injection of woody growth with
translocated herbicides in liquid form
Spot gun
Also pages 467, 468
Weeds - Integrated Weed Management 441