How to Get 2,000 Acres a Day With Your Sprayer

One of the biggest operational challenges farmers face today is getting all their spraying done within an ideal window of time. This challenge is only getting bigger as more insecticide, fungicide and foliar fertilizer applications are being made to increase yields. And instead of relying solely on glyphosate to kill weeds, farmers are needing to use more herbicides with multiple modes of action to help control resistant weeds. Not to mention, new label restrictions on some dicamba formulations are further narrowing the window of time in which fields can be sprayed with the chemical. It’s no wonder that one of the questions we get asked most is, “How can I get more acres out of my sprayer?”

Some farmers we talk to have been thinking about adding another sprayer to their fleets to spray all of their acres in a timely manner. However, we’ve found that most people are actually able to keep up with the workload by simply reducing their refilling times. That’s why we developed our Spray Fill Xpress, which has attracted a lot of attention recently. 

Here's how it works:

The Spray Fill Xpress is a highly customizable chemical batching system that can be configured with up to six different stainless-steel chemical tanks. While the sprayer is operating, another worker measures various chemicals into the individual tanks, where they are kept separate to avoid premixing, which can cause undesirable reactions. Optional flow meters and scales are available to provide precise measurements when adding chemicals.

When the sprayer returns to the nurse trailer to refill, the water supply is pumped through the 3-inch plumbing in the Spray Fill Xpress, and the pre-batched chemicals are drawn into the water stream through a venturi. Refilling a 1,200-gallon tank only takes about 7 minutes. Without a tool like the Spray Fill Xpress to batch the chemicals, it takes many operators closer to 30 minutes to refill and mix chemicals.

We ran some numbers to estimate just how many more acres can be sprayed in a 12-hour day. If running 15 gallons per acre at 16 miles per hour, we figure an operator can spray up to 1,138 acres a day if it takes him 30 minutes to refill each time. If he uses the Spray Fill Xpress, however, the same operator may be able to cover up to 2,070 acres in a day. That’s an 82 percent increase in productivity. We encourage you to run the math and also check out this helpful chart to get an idea of how many more acres you can potentially get out of your sprayer.