N RANCHING
atural Resources Herbicide Sprayer Calibrating Tips
Fill the sprayer tank half-full with water. Adjust the spray pump to the same pressure you
will use to spray herbicide — broadcast ground sprayer 30 psi (pounds per square inch) or lower pressure to reduce spray drift, down to 20 psi if the spray pattern is maintained.
Boomless sprayer calibration Spray a swath on a hard surface that can be easily
measured. Measure the width of the swath in feet almost to the edges, allowing for a small amount of overlap.
Use this chart to choose your “calibration course.”
If your swath is this wide (feet) 20
25 30 35 40 45 218 182 156 136 121 50
Then, spray a row this distance (feet) to equal 1/8 mile 273
109 A 1/8 acre swath will be suffi cient to calibrate your
sprayer. Mark the length of the course and drive the course
in the gear and at the rpm you’d use to spray. Record your drive time. This is how long it will take to spray 1/8 acre. Park the tractor, maintain rpm used to drive the
course and turn on the sprayer. Catch the water being sprayed from the nozzle for the
same time it took you to drive the calibration course. A clean, 2-liter soft drink bottle with a hole cut in the side is a handy funnel into a container. If you’re
calibrating a cluster nozzle, tie a garbage bag around the nozzle to catch water. Run the sprayer, collecting the output, for the same
time it took to drive the calibration course. Measure the volume of the water using a container
graduated in pints. Pints of water caught in the bucket are equal to number of gallons the sprayer will deliver per acre.
Boom sprayer calibration Measure the nozzle spacing.
Use this chart to determine your calibration course length.
Nozzle spacing (inches) 18
20 30 40
Length of calibration course (feet) 227 204 136 102
Mark the course and record the time required to
drive in the desired gear and rpm. This is the amount of time required to spray 1/128 of an acre. Catch the water from 1 nozzle for the time it took
to drive the calibration course. The number of ounces of water caught will determine
the number of gallons that will be sprayed per acre. Catch water from each nozzle to determine if all of
the nozzles are delivering the same volume. If the fl ow is uneven, examine the nozzles and screens checking that everything is the same size and not blocked with debris.
tscra.org
November 2014 The Cattleman 61
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