Minimizing pesticide waste in orchard spraying

Abstract

Conventional high or low volume spraying of large widely-spaced orchard trees has been shown to be grossly inefficient. Whilst little more than a third of the spray may be totally wasted, much of the remainder is deposited by wind-borne drift, very unevenly, and many leaf surfaces may receive no deposit at all. Improvements in efficiency and economy are seen in the planting of dwarf hedgerow trees and the use of shielded re-circulating controlled-droplet sprayers.