Nufarm is helping advisers, applicators, growers and retailers to make better summer fallow spraying decisions this season, using a series of half day workshops throughout November to focus attention on maintaining spray efficacy and minimising spray drift.
The message was timely given widespread herbicide drift incidents from summer fallow herbicides last year.
Bill Gordon, spray application consultant for Nufarm, led the SprayWise workshops with support from Nufarm’s R&D field team and representatives from Croplands and Crop Care. They also utilised resources from industry organisations including CDRC, GRDC and Cotton Info.
The workshops provided a comprehensive overview of sprayer set-up, product choices, weather conditions and other resources available to help reduce spray drift, as part of Nufarm’s commitment to industry-leading product stewardship.
“We want to make sure people are using products responsibly and maintain that constant awareness because we know there is always pressure to just get out and get the job done,” Mr Gordon said.
He said better spraying decisions were incredibly important to the whole community.
“What may be a quick decision to spray now because it’s convenient for you, might impact on the whole industry in the longer term,” he said.
According to Mr Gordon, the areas of greatest impact when making good spraying decisions were knowing when to spray and how to spray.
He said the impact of the weather conditions was significant and encouraged growers to use the SprayWise Decisions website to plan suitable times to spray based on forecast conditions.
All those who attended Nufarm’s SprayWise workshops received a free 12 month subscription to the SprayWise Decisions website.
Mr Gordon said it was wise to avoid summer fallow spraying at night.
“During the day, the air movement is generally turbulent and that brings the spray droplets back down to the ground, but at night when the ground is cooler, the air movement is more likely to be parallel to the ground and that can carry the droplets long distances,” he explained.
He said using SprayWise Decisions would also help growers avoid spraying during a low-level temperature inversion – the worst conditions for spray drift.
“Although inversions are incredibly difficult to pick, forecasting is improving with continued research by GRDC,” he said.
“If there’s more than a 10 to 12 degree drop between the daytime maximum and the night minimum temperature, a low-level inversion is likely and growers should avoid spraying.”
The workshops also focused on correct spray equipment set-up, such as selecting appropriate nozzles for summer fallow spraying.
“The key issues are to ensure that the herbicide is applied with a coarse spray quality or greater and to use the correct boom height,” he said.
Croplands provided spraying demonstrations with its Rogator and WeedIT spraying systems.
Product choice, adjuvant use and spray hygiene were also discussed at the workshops.
Frank Taylor, research and development officer for Nufarm, said switching herbicides was unlikely to solve spray drift issues for growers.
“Changing the herbicide might reduce the symptoms, but it’s not going to fix the problem,” he said.
“It might not even reduce the symptoms, when you consider the rate needed to achieve good weed control with an alternative product.
“Minimising spray drift is really all about responsible application and that’s spraying during the right application conditions and with the correct boom spray set-up and nozzle choice.”
Mr Taylor said the cotton crop was forecast to be significant this year, with 320,000 hectares of irrigated cotton and 150,000 to 200,000 hectares of dryland cotton expected.
He reminded growers to use CottonMap to identify cotton crops in the area.
“There’s a lot of cotton out there already this year, so let’s work together to protect those crops from spray drift with better summer fallow decisions.”
Mr Gordon reminded growers that Group I herbicides such as 2,4-D tended to show symptoms at quite low rates, and while damage did not always lead to yield losses, the problem was highly visible.
“Whether it’s a cotton crop, a pasture or a grapevine next door, it’s important to keep your spray on your farm,” Mr Gordon said.