20" or 30" Spacing

[Shaggy98]

As soon as our local sprayer distributor has their annual end of year parts sale, I'm going to replace all the nozzles on my sprayer.  I've got 5GPA and 10GPA nozzles, and am planning on replacing all of them.  I am wondering what is the most popular spacing, my setup will allow for both 20" as well as 30" spacing but wasn't sure if the benefit of possibly better coverage with the 20" would justify the additional 50% cost as well as maintenance.  What do most of you all run for nozzle spacing?

[Pupdaddy]

Most sprayers in the Midwest will have 20" spacing..30" will allow you to put a nozzle or "drop" in the middle of most corn rows. Narrower spacing gets you better coverage, but it can come at a cost. You have smaller orifices in nozzles spaced 20" to get the same amount of material on...and that can lead to more plugged nozzles. At the same token..if you're applying high volume materials, narrower spacing has it's advantages because you don't need such huge orifices. You also can run a boom lower with narrower spacing with limits the amount of drift you get from tip to target. But as always there's another trade off, if you have more nozzles for the same volume of material, you will run smaller nozzles and probably less pressure. Less pressure may help the drift problem, but it lowers the coverage potential with some types of nozzles. Figure out what you're spraying the most of, what you find to be your biggest problem while spraying...and choose from there.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I run 20" on a Hardi with 60' booms.  I think Pupdaddy summed it up well.  I wish I also had 30" drops because I use the sprayer to put on liquid N and I have to do a lot of fiddling around - I run the drops on 60" centers.  I should probably add a new set of nozzles on 30" centers just for the N.

[Shaggy98]

Thanks for the input Pup, I primarily spray herbicide, have never applied fungicide or insecticide.  Starting in 2013 I will do my own top dressing of winter wheat, but I've got stream bars for that.  I bought this sprayer used, and it has an autoboom height control on it which works wonderful when you are spraying on bare ground with the 30" spacing.  The problem I was running into is just like you said, with the gage wheels on the booms, I couldn't get the boom to run at the proper height when I was running through crop stubble of any kind.  I had to disengage the autoboom function and raise the entire boom to get proper coverage over the crop residue.  I think if I switch to 20" spacing, I can utilize the autoboom feature in nearly all of my spraying conditions.  One of the tip MFG. company's has an app. for smart phones and tablet PC's that will help you select tips after you plug in a couple variables that it needs.  They people at the spray center also are a good source of information.

[ECIN]

Boy oh boy there shaggy , for me that's a hard question to answer . . First to answer your question , I run all on 15 inchs . I had one sprayer with 20" and 30 " for one season , I didn't like it for the reason of running drops . When I had that sprayer , I ran the 30" set up for burn down and pre emerge and then the 20"s for post work but I was also running 15 gpa and some at 20 gpa useing 28%. Here's my problem here , it's your volumn amount , 5 and 10 gpa ? boy that's thin . on the 5 gpa rate i like the idea of running the larger noozle size to keep from plugging and then the 20" set up for post work . If i can ask you , what product's do you spray at only 5 and 10 gpa ? my guess is roundup at the 5 , it's one of the only chemical's labled that low .on volumn . Also what kind of nozzles are you thinking , or going to run ?

[Shaggy98]

The only product I have run at 5GPA so far is Finesse on post emerge coverage of winter wheat as a late fall application.  Everything else has been with 10GPA, Atrazine, Glyphosate, Dicamba, 2,4-D, etc,  etc...  Primarily pre-emerge & burndown applications.  The only nozzles I have run, are Turbo Tee-Jet at both of those rates.  I've got two different sets of nozzles as I try to keep my pressure between 40 & 50 PSI.  I will admit, I am uneducated on all these chemicals as well as the mechanics of spraying, but I am learning and taking lots of notes.  Any advice or info. that you share with me as greatly appreciated.

[ECIN]

Shaggy the best advice I could give you is READ the lables FIRST before you buy new noozles , the lables are the bible on the chemicals you use nd will have the best pressures and min. and max . volumns to use also will tell you what is the best droplet size you need for what app. you are doing , like ( and don't hold me to this , it's been since spring and i forget easily ) Atrazine is like a min. of 10 gpa with 35 to 40 psi . But others may need higher pressures and volumn . The lables will also tell you set back rules - like Atrazine -- this is very important ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Turbo Tees are good noozles Years ago I did lease out work for a co-op ( hired gun ) lol The manager came out one morning and told me and the other app. driver we needed to change noozles to the turbo's from the AI 's we were useing , We about chit the big one ! We did and ran them 2 loads and then came back in and switched back to the AI's , we hated them ! The AI's shoot the product straight down as the turbos were shooting it more forward and the wind was catching it and the drift was just to much . Don't get me wrong , they do , do a very good job , and have a friend that uses them all the time , I just didn't like them , lol BTW -- I think I still have them turbo's over at the barn , just like NEW , i will check what size they are and get back with you , if they will work for you , i will box them up and send them out to ya ! FREE just to get them out of here , lol Double BTW - I run 90 booms so should have around 73 noozles plus a few extra's

[Shaggy98]

Thanks for the offer ECIN but I'm not here for a handout. Funny you should mention the AI nozzles, I've got a neighbor that uses them and he swears by them. I have done a lot of label reading and thus far I have been in compliance. Most of the products I spray say 10GPA is fine.

[ECIN]

LOL Shaggy , I know your not looking for a hand out , it just an offer ,as I don't use them . BTW if you are interested in the AI 's , you might want to check out the AIXR noozles , they are a AI noozle but alittle shorter than the AI's are , My AI's are longer and hang down alittle more and if you dip a boom into taller beans they will sometimes grab a leaf and I have to get out and remove it , you would think it would fall off , but no , they will screw up the pattern . The AIXR's run between 15 to 90 psi and the Ai's , between 30 to 115 psi . Just talk to your spray dealer , he should know what you need for your area . Good luck .

[Shaggy98]

ECIN, I've talked to a couple more local guys and they are like you, the AI nozzles are what they are running.  When I went to get a couple sets of them, the spray rep. tried to push the Hypro nozzles to me.  Ever heard of them?  They've got the cap and the nozzle as 1 unit.  Said they are real similar to the turbo's that I've been running but with less drift.  The people who have switched to them seem to like them, what do you think? Ever heard of them?  Price is almost identical so that won't be a factor.