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Spray Drift Management was the hot topic of last week, with 35 participants including landholders from Warren and Narromine, Consultants and Cotton Catchment Communities extension CRC staff attending an Application Technology and Spray Drift Management Workshop.

The workshops took place at both “Auscott” in Warren and the Narromine Aero Club, conducted by leading Spray Application consultant, Bill Gordon. According to Bill spray drift has become a bigger problem in recent years due to:
 More people spraying at night using GPS guidance in spray rigs. High risk weather conditions, particularly inversions are more likely to occur at night
 Larger capacity machines, operators spraying for longer before needing to get out of the cab to check weather conditions, more opportunity for weather conditions to change without operator realising
 Drought conditions mean not as many opportunities to control summer fallows. Following a rainfall event, everyone is spraying at the same time.
 Increased price of glyphosate, more 24D used

Sally Ceeney, Cotton CRC Cotton Extension Officer said that understanding Spray drift is an extremely important aspect of local farming enterprises, last season saw 2,4 D drift cause significant damage and losses to the Macquarie Valley, 50% total crop visibly affected with an average loss of 1 bale/ha, 25% of this was badly affected with an average loss of 2.5 bales/ha.

This equates to over $120,000 loss to the Macquarie Valley total crop in lint and seed.

“The workshops aimed at assisting local growers and applicators to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between droplet size and the target, the mode of action of the product and the conditions for spraying”, said Sally.

“This information can then be used to establish what kinds of nozzles each grower should be using based on the capabilities of their machines and the way in which they operate”

Despite another season of low water allocations, there will still be areas of cotton planted across the Macquarie Valley from Narromine to the north of Warren. Due diligence must be taken when using any 2,4 D products.

“The major cause of chemical drift is application during unsuitable weather conditions. Monitoring of meteorological conditions and reacting to changes in temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction are some of the easiest and most effective strategies for preventing spray drift” concluded Sally.

For more information about the project, contact Sally Ceeney on +61 2 6883 7101.