Using spot spraying
A demonstration by Croplands at a spray application workshop led Haydon to ask for more information at Western Farm Machinery. In January 2019 Haydon took delivery of a WEED-IT 7000L with a 36 metres boom.
Haydon along with his brother Michael crop 4400 hectares and is growing a combination of wheat, barley, canola, lupins and chickpeas. Buttongrass and Windmill grass are amongst the worst weed offenders, especially in the summer. These weeds sometimes need up to five sprays, depending on rainfall. Haydon is conscious of both reducing the chemical load in his cropping operation and managing herbicide resistance. "The money we are saving isn't our main goal", says Haydon. "We're also looking at it from an environmental point of view. The less chemicals going out, the better."
WEED-IT in action
Haydon uses the WEED-IT at his 4400 hectare farm. He uses an equivalent application rate of 100 to 120 litres per hectare. The average speed he uses is between 13 and 15 kph. The speed depends on the size and stress of the weeds in the paddock. The WEED-IT is recommended to be used at a maximum of 20 kph. This way you'll achieve the best kill rates, especially in grassy weeds where the weed’s surface area may be minimal and the plant can be easily stressed. The pro's from the WEED-IT technology are that:
- It has the ability to economically use a higher concentration of chemical;
- You can use a different mode of action;
- Both a major factor in delaying the onset of herbicide resistance.
The results
Since Haydon has started to use the WEED-IT, his chemical usage rates have averaged only 20% of a traditional blanket spray. He has also saved a lot of water. Right now, he has saved over 550.000 litres, this shows a huge saving in time, pumping and transporting.
“Across 820 hectares, we used 2000 litres of water using the WEED-IT compared to 82,000 litres that would have been used in a blanket spray. The tank filling time for 82,000 litres at 300-500 litres per minute, plus your time to transport this amount of chemical would have been huge”.
Haydon is impressed by the WEED-IT technology. "Since the machine has arrived, the WEED-IT has been trouble-free, not even a blocked nozzle during the time I used it."
Sold and serviced by Croplands Australia.
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