Minimising drift is critical when growing herbicide-tolerant crops, and a new spray tip from one North American manufacturer offers a huge reduction.
Product summary
A new addition to the Combo-Jet range from Wilger Industries produces a very coarse droplet size spectrum for pesticide applications where minimising drift is more critical than perfect target coverage.
The Combo-Jet UR Series nominally reduces drift by about 90%, compared with a standard flat fan tip. In comparison with competing products, it is said to produce a slightly coarser spray with a more stable distribution pattern, as well as being able to operate at a lower pressure.
“This tip is engineered for spray applications that cannot be allowed to drift heavily, such as the new dicamba formulations Engenia and Xtendimax, and the 2,4-D product Enlist Duo, for crops tolerant of these herbicides,” explains Lucas Olenick of Wilger Industries.
Instead of air induction, the UR Series employs two chambers to create turbulence and sufficient pressure drop at the stainless steel orifice for the large droplets to be produced. The lack of air induction makes the tips suitable for use with pulse width modulation sprayer control systems, which adjust to changing ground speed by varying the length of spray pulses rather than changing system pressure.
This allows standard, pre-orifice and twin chamber nozzles like the UR Series to operate over a wider output range than usual to cater for large variance in ground speed or to regulate spray quality.
Wilger’s online spray tip calculator – Tip Wizard – enables sprayer operators to select tips for both conventional and pulse width modulation systems; to get the full benefit of a pulsing spray system, operators typically use tips that are one-and-a-half to two times larger than usual, says Mr Olenick.
The UR Series is being produced in five 110° flat fan sizes from 04 to 10 (0.4 to 1 US gal/minute reference flow rate) with further sizes and an 80° fan version planned.
The new range joins Wilger’s ER Series conventional and SR, MR and DR series pre-orifice tips, which give different levels of spray drift control.