Make sure you really are all clear

At this time of the year growers and contractors are very busy spraying weeds, pests or diseases in both cereals and in oilseed rape. There is so much to do and so few spraying opportunities in the autumn, says Dick Dyason, Technical Manager for Nufarm UK.

“Sometimes it may be tempting to cut corners when cleaning out the sprayer and moving on to the next field. If the cleaning process is not done properly and the previous chemical is not effectively cleaned out, particularly the nozzle and filters, there can be problems. When an acreage of suspension concentrate (SC) herbicides such as Liberator (flufenacet and DFF) and emulsifiable concentrates (EC) such as Crystal (flufenacet + pendimethalin) are being used in wheat as the foundation to an effective weed control programme in cereals, problems can arise with deposits left in the filters which are subsequently cleaned out by products such as Centurion Max (clethodim) onto oilseed rape. The problem has arisen because, although the tank, boom, hoses and lines have been washed out with an appropriate tank cleaner, the nozzles and filters, especially the inline filters, have not been removed and cleaned properly,” reminds Dick.

“So we are just reminding growers to make sure they really are all clear when it comes to tank cleaning and so avoid any crop issues this autumn,” he concludes.