Spray Application Workshop

Thank you to Syngenta staff; Brandy Rawnsley, Technical Services Lead – Horticulture & Viticulture and Scott Mathew, Product Lead – Viticulture & Fruit, for travelling to the Clare Valley to deliver our Fungicide Application Workshop last Thursday evening.

First, we had some vineyard demonstrations of a Silvan triple row sprayer and twin row Croplands sprayer applying different rates in a Riesling block with water and fluorescent dye.

We then moved into the shed for presentations and theory covering; dilute application volumes, concentration factors, airflow adjustment, nozzle selection, droplet size and selection and efficacy of chemicals for disease control.

After some tasty pulled pork & coleslaw rolls and drinks, we ventured out into the vineyard on dusk with UV torches. The torches illuminated the fluorescent dye, allowing us to assess spray penetration and coverage at various application rates and compare the effectiveness of different sprayer types.

A special thank you to Jim Barry Wines for generously hosting the workshop at their Morrison’s Vineyard and to Kilikanoon for bringing their sprayer along for the demonstration. We’d also like to acknowledge the sprayer operators on the night, Shayden and Leigh, for their skilful work.