Foothill Fodder
Article

Calibrated for Coverage: Online Air Blast Sprayer Calibration Course Now Open!

A photo showing a woman by an airblast sprayer being filmed while she measures flow rate from the nozzle.
The online course incorporates film clips. Here we are filming measuring flow rate.
Fodder Farmers, Applicators, Supervisors and PCAs! Do you need continuing education credits for your license renewal? Or do you just want to increase your knowledge on your air blast sprayer? If so, then I have something for you!

UC Cooperative Extension, UCIPM, and the Spray Application Pest Management Alliance Team, with support from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Pest Management Alliance grants program, have developed a comprehensive online course for calibrating air blast sprayers!

Co-authored by myself and my colleague Franz Niederholzer, UCCE Farm Advisor in Colusa/Sutter/Yuba counties, this unique course is for anyone involved in spray decision making in perennial crops (trees and vines). Calibration is the process of setting up, maintaining, and rechecking a desired spray volume, measured in gallons per acre.  It is the basis for a safe and effective pesticide application and is used by every grower-conventional to organic-who uses pesticides in their crop to help manage pests.  

3 people with cameras filming in a vineyard location.
ANR videographer Ray Lucas (left), with UCIPM online course design experts Cheryl Reynolds and Petr Kosina, filming at Lava Cap vineyards in El Dorado County.
The interactive course, developed by UCIPM online course design experts Petr Kosina and Cheryl Reynolds, is presented in narrated text, photos, video clips and animation to engage you!  You will learn the basic principles of spray calibration, review the basic components of a sprayer, perform calculations needed for calibration, and take a look at how factors such as droplet size, nozzle type, and weather conditions influence drift and spray coverage. This course also explains the conditions for pesticide applications under the 2018 Pesticide Use Near Schoolsites regulation.

A computer screen shot showing the parts of an airblast sprayer
A screen shot from the course's equipment module.

 

 

 

The course is organized into 5 modules:

  1. Why proper calibration is critical for your operation's success.
  2. Equipment: Parts of an axial fan* air blast sprayer.
  3. The calibration formula-how to measure the variables and do the math.
  4. Spray drift: droplet size, fan speed, weather, and how to manage.
  5. Spray team communication.

 *We are working on a venturi (air-shear) sprayer module option which should be available soon.

A nozzle box.
Understanding nozzles-how to select and properly use them-is a part of the course.
  • 2.5 California DPR CE credits have been approved (2.0 other, 0.5 laws).  You must complete all of the course modules and pass the final exam with at least 70% to receive your CEUs.

With the support of DPR's Pest Management Alliance grants, this course is now available for FREE, until December 31, 2020.

You must have an account first in eXtension campus (available without

The logo for eXtension website
charge).  Create a new account or simply use your existing Google or Microsoft account for login.

 

A graphic of a sprayer fan with the words