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JMS/MN
05-06-2002 22:01:28
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Re: How do I calibrate my sprayer? in reply to Lance M, 05-06-2002 04:58:55
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You might be referring to the post I made regarding calibration- and thank you for caring enough about doing the job right! Farmers catch a lot of heat from city folks for misapplying herbicides. Calibration is simple. For example, one acre is 33 feet wide by 1/4 mile long, or one rod (16 1/2feet by 1/2 mile long). I use a sixty foot boom and cover 7.2 acres in one round (one mile) in a half-mile long field. If you make a twenty foot boom and drive one mile you will cover 2.4 acres. Your sprayer tank should have gallon markings on the tank, or you can measure how many gallons you put in it. Run the sprayer at the field speed you will use, at the pressure you will use, using just plain water, over a measured distance, for example, one-half mile. Common speed and pressure is 4-5 mph at 40 psi. Note how many gallons of water you sprayed out, or how many gallons it takes to refill to the original level. Divide the gallons by the acres covered and you will have your application rate per acre. Usually it will fall between 15 and 20 gallons of water per acre, for example if you use an 8003 nozzle. Other nozzles vary, some may run only 10 gallons per acre. It is important to maintain a constant speed and pressure to get accurate results. I carry a calculator in the tractor and monitor almost every load I mix- and I usually run 18 gallons of water, 40 psi at 2000 rpm, 5th gear with a JD 4240. Over the years the numbers are constant enough that I can mix the first batch each year according to those numbers and come extremely close. I always start in fields of known distance or acres, and go to the shorter, odd shaped fields after a few batches are run through, just to be avble to check the calibration.
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