CALIBRATION PROCEDURE FOR BAND
APPLICATION
Matthew D. Schuster and Steve
Salisbury
Calibrating a sprayer for a band application is a fairly simple process. In fact, it is really no different than calibrating for a broadcast application. To begin calibrating your sprayer you must collect three pieces of information:
1. Speed (mph)
2. Sprayer output (GPA)
3. Tank capacity (gallons per tank)
From that you can use that information to calculate:
1. Acres treated per tank
2. Product added per tank
PROCEDURE:
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1. Speed: |
0.682 |
x |
feet |
= mph |
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seconds |
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0.682 is a constant.
It saves you the trouble of converting seconds to hours, feet to miles,
etc.
feet – measured distance for your test drive
seconds – time it takes for you to travel the measure
distance (be sure to use a stop watch, don’t rely on the speedometer)
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2. Output: |
5940 |
x |
gallon/minute/nozzle |
= GPA (see comments below) |
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band width (inches) |
mph |
5940 is a constant.
It saves you the trouble of converting inches to miles, miles to acres,
minutes to hours, etc.
gallon/minute/nozzle – measured amount of fluid
being sprayed out of one nozzle.
Typically you want to check all nozzles to ensure that the output is
consistent. If they are then average
the nozzles together.
band width – actual spray width in inches.
mph – speed that was determined in step 1.
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3. Tank
capacity: |
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gallons per tank |
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4. Acres
treated per tank: |
gallons per tank |
= acres per tank |
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GPA |
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gallons
per tank –
from step 3.
GPA – from step 2.
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5. Product
added per tank: |
acres/tank |
x |
product/acre |
= product per tank |
acres
per tank –
from step 4.
product
per acre –
amount of product recommended on the pesticide label for a broadcast
application.
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After you complete those steps then you can determine how many times you will need to refill. You can then use that number to determine how much product you need to purchase.
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Actual acres treated: |
band width (inches) |
x |
100 |
= % acres treated |
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row spacing (inches) |
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Total acres of field |
x |
% acres treated |
= actual acres treated |
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Number of time to re-fill? |
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Actual acres treated |
÷ |
Acres treated/tank (from step 4) |
= tanks needed to treat field |
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It’s important to realize that actual acres treated will be less than the total number acres in the field. If the row spacing changes but not the band-width, then the sprayer output will remain the same. You will just have to refill more times. However, if the band-width changes then the calibration must be repeated in case the nozzle output has changed. In addition, the number of times you refill may or may not change.
EXAMPLE:
You want to band spray 7 ounces per acre of Progress to your sugar beets. The beets are planted on 22-inch rows and you want to spray a 10-inch band. You collected 0.15 gallons per minute per nozzle and travel at 100 feet in 11.4 seconds. Your sprayer has a 200-gallon tank and you have 200 acres of sugar beets to spray.
How many acres can you treat with one tank?
How many times will you have to refill?
And how many quarts of Progress will you have to add to the tank at each fill up?
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1. mph: |
0.682 x 100 feet |
= 6 mph |
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11.4 seconds |
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2. GPA: |
5940 x 0.15 GPM |
= 15 GPA |
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10 inch band x 6 mph |
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3. Tank Capacity: |
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= 200 gallons |
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4. Acres/tank: |
200 gallons/tank |
= 13.3 acres/tank |
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15 GPA |
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5. Product/tank: |
13.3 acres/tank x 7 oz/A |
= 93.1 oz/tank or 2.9 quarts/tank |
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How many times will you have to refill? |
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Determine actual treated acres first. |
10 inch band |
x |
100 |
= 45.5% |
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22 inch row spacing |
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200 acres x 0.455 |
= 91 acres actually treated |
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91 acres ÷ 13.3 acres/tank |
= 6.8 tanks needed to treat field |
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How many quarts of Progress per fill-up? |
= 2.9 quarts |
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How many quarts of Progress do you need to buy? |
= 19.72 quarts or about 5 gallons |
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BAND VS. BROADCAST APPLICATIONS:
Sometimes there is considerable confusion when calibrating a band applicator and determining a pesticide application rate, which stems from the wording on the pesticide label. Often time it will give an application rate for a row spacing and band width, then list the broadcast equivalent next to it. The reality is that the application rate is exactly the same, but the concentration on that physical acre is what has changed.
For example, in the above problem we applied 7 ounces per acre of Progress at 15 gallons per acre. If we had applied a broadcast application, then we really would have applied 7 ounces per acre of Progress to one (1) physical acre. However, in a band application the goal is to only treat a percentage of that physical acre, everything else concerning the sprayer remains the same. The output of each nozzle is still 15 gallons per acre and we are still applying 7 ounces of Progress per acre. A better way to state the above recommendation is 7 ounces per treated acre of Progress at 15 gallons per treated acre.
In the above example we are applying a 10-inch band on 22-inch rows, which means we are only treating about one-half of a physical acre. Therefore, would need to drive over two (2) acres in order to treat one (1) acre. And within that one (1) treated acre, you will have applied 7 ounces of Progress at 15 gallons per acre. Remember, we didn’t broadcast apply this herbicide, so one-half of the acre will have 0 ounces of Progress per acre at 0 gallons per acre while the other half will have 7 ounces of Progress per acre at 15 gallons per acre.