In Which lobiwan Celebrates Earth Day.

My new sprayer arrived at the dealer in GCK on earth day.

Earlier this spring I decided that it was time to upgrade my sprayer. I was mainly motivated by the price of generic Roundup, which has gone from 12.50 a gallon a year ago to 32.50 today. Unfortunately I cannot stop using Roundup because I am an environmentalist. The use of Roundup in a no-till system saves soil, water, and fuel as well as greatly reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from the soil which result from tillage (as always I gladly accept any cash you want to send me to offset your carbon use). All of this from a chemical which is five times less toxic to mammals than table salt (even organic table salt ;) ), and is chemically inactive as soon as it comes in contact with soil. But I digress.

Features of the new sprayer that I am excited about:

Sixty foot boom. My current sprayer has a forty-five foot boom. This will not only save me fuel, but also reduce the chance for overlaps and skips when I apply chemicals.

Rate controller. The rate controller will automatically adjust the amount sprayed with fluctuations in speed to ensure that I am always applying the target rate. On my old sprayer I would use a formula to come up with the right speed and pressure to make my target application rate. Now I will enter in my target rate into the controller, and it will do the rest, constantly adjusting the flow rate to ensure accuracy.

Accu-Boom. This system will keep track of what areas have been sprayed (using GPS) and automatically turn on and off the individual boom sections for me. This is much more accurate than my guesstimates on when to turn on the individual boom sections. Of course if all my fields were square this would be nearly worthless but since we farm in circles this will save a lot of chemical.

Six section boom. Since I will have Accu-Boom to do the work for me, I can have six separate boom sections that can be turned on and off individually.

Hydraulically adjustable boom height. This isn't that big of a deal since I can adjust the height using the three-point hitch, but it does provide shock absorption so I will be able to run faster through the field.

Compact "T" style tank. This tank design makes the sprayer shorter front to back which centers the weight of the sprayer closer to the tractor. This should keep the tractor better balanced front to back, which should reduce compaction from the rear axle (even with the additional weight from the larger boom.)

Views from the back.

Views from the front.

The new sprayer(below) has a air shock breakaway mechanism which will work much better than the crude system on the old sprayer (above.)

The difference between the simplicity of the old sprayer (above) and the complexity of the new sprayer (below) is accuracy, which equals money in my pock...--I mean a better environment for my children's children.