Rust Patrol

Extensive spray equipment experiments last summer in Ohio showed that three different tools consistently performed better than others at delivering liquid sprays to the lower leaf canopy, where Asian soybean rust begins. The top three tools included an air-assisted sprayer, a premixed air and liquid sprayer and a conventional spray hum with a mechanical “canopy opener” (For more information about springs from Part I of the application of mind see “Rust Stop Ahead,” December 2005 page 6)

Although not consummate yet, the initial data from a next to the first part of the study now confirms many of the findings from the first part, says Erdal Ozkan, Ohio State University (OSU) Extension agricultural engineer.

“The air-assist sprayer and the canopy opener are still the sum of two units best tools,” he says. “The twin-flow spray pattern continued to do poorly, and the sweeps established in the first application of mind generally remained consistent in the