Farm Machinery for Spraying and Dusting Crops

By Read Books Ltd.

The development of farming machinery revolutionised agriculture, allowing for far greater yields with less manpower. This volume explores early examples of farm machinery used for dusting and spraying crops, with detailed descriptions and explanations as to how they worked. Highly recommended for those with an interest in the history and development of modern agricultural machinery. Contents include: “Agricultural Tools And Machinery”, “Spraying And Dusting”, “Atomizing Devices”, “Pumps For Sprayers”, “Agitation Of Spray Materials”, “Field Sprayers”, “High-Pressure Orchard Sprayers”, “Blower-Sprayers”, “Aircraft Sprayers And Dusters”, “References”, “Problems”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on agricultural tools and machinery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473390324

Book preview

Farm Machinery for

Spraying and

Dusting Crops

By

Roy Bainer

R. A. Kepner

E. L. Barger

Contents

Spraying and Dusting

Atomizing Devices

Pumps for Sprayers

Agitation of Spray Materials

Field Sprayers

High-Pressure Orchard Sprayers

Blower-Sprayers

Aircraft Sprayers and Dusters

References

Problems

Spraying and Dusting

21.1. Introduction. Sprayers and dusters have been used for many years to apply chemicals for the control of agricultural pests. Although the early machines were designed primarily for orchards, the introduction, during recent years, of new pest-control chemicals such as 2,4-D has resulted in the development of new and improved types of equipment and in a much broader field of application, particularly in regard to low-pressure and low-volume spraying of field crops.

Present-day agricultural pest-control equipment includes (a) high-pressure orchard sprayers (400 to 800 psi), (b) field-crop sprayers (usually 20 to 200 psi, but sometimes higher, depending upon the application), (c) blower-sprayers, which use an air blast as a carrier for low-pressure sprays and were developed primarily for orchards, (d) dusters (ground rigs), and (e) aircraft equipped for spraying or dusting. Thermal aerosol generators, which atomize the chemicals by means of steam, hot gases, or direct impingement upon a hot plate, have only limited application for agricultural pest control.

Among the many uses for the various types of spraying and dusting equipment are the following:⁸

1. Application of insecticides to control insects on plants.

2. Application of fungicides to control plant diseases.

3. Application of herbicides to kill weeds, either indiscriminately or selectively (see Section 12.2).

4. Application of preharvest sprays to defoliate or condition crops for mechanical harvesting (see Chapters 17 and 19).

5. Application of hormone (growth-regulating) sprays to increase fruit set or prevent early dropping of the fruit.

6. Application of sprays to thin fruit blossoms.

7. Application of plant nutrients (sprays) directly to the plant foliage (see Section 13.3).

21.2. Particle Size in Relation to Effectiveness. The size of particles is important in relation to such factors as the penetration and carrying ability obtained with hydraulic sprayers (Section 21.22), the efficiency of catch of sprays or dusts by plant surfaces, uniformity and completeness of coverage, effectiveness of individual particles after deposition, and drift. Dusters have no direct influence on particle size, except as they influence agglomeration of particles during application, but sprayers can be made to produce droplets covering a wide range of average sizes. Present atomizing equipment, however, does not produce a uniform size of droplets under a particular set of conditions but gives a wide band or spectrum of sizes (Section 21.9).

Considerable work has been done in regard to the most effective size of aerosol particles for control of insects in flight, but little positive information is available about the best size of individual particles for pesticides applied to plant surfaces. The optimum particle size for many insecticide applications is believed to be related to the size, state of development, and species of insect. In applying fungicides and certain insecticides (as for scale insects), continuous coverage seems to be most important. For 2,4-D and other sprays of the translocation type, large droplets (100 to 200 microns* average diameter) give satisfactory results and minimize drift hazard.⁴

Particle size is important in relation to the dynamic catch or impingement of sprays or dusts

Reviews for Farm Machinery for Spraying and Dusting Crops

[Christopher Adam · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Skimmed looking for something specific, not in this book, but good to know it is here.