New sprayer company makes debut at Sprays and Sprayers 2010

Sprayers pirouetting at the end of the arena and traversing the infamous bumpy track to demonstrate their boom stability will be among the features of the Sprays & Sprayers section of Cereals 2010. Peter Hill previews some of the newcomers on show
A second-generation dropleg spraying system designed to improve the performance of crop protection treatments in field-scale vegetable production will make its debut at Sprays and Sprayers 2010.
It’s the result of the co-operation between sprayer maker Amazone, nozzle manufacturer Lechler and the German arm of crop protection specialist Syngenta.
Using drop legs to place nozzles among the crop plants instead of above them is nothing new; indeed, variations on the theme have been proposed for stem base disease control in cereals before now, as well as being used in some specialist crop situations.
But Syngenta decided to look again at the technique following research institute trials demonstrating its potential and concluded from its own trials that the system could achieve better results than above-crop application against insect pests and viruses. Onions, carrots and dwarf beans are among the crops most likely to benefit from this approach.
Lechler says the DroplegUL system is easier and more user-friendly to operate than previous designs. It comprises light-weight plastic drop legs that can swing freely diagonally to the rows to guard against damage from becoming entangled in crop or weed foliage.
Each leg is fed by a length of flexible tubing, which means leg spacing can easily be altered to suit different crop situations. A TwinCap nozzle body on the upturned bottom section of the leg provides two spray tips for under-leaf spraying.
Amazone has developed a mounting system for its Q-plus and Super-S booms comprising an aluminium spray line carrier available in widths from 12m to 28m.
FARMGEM
A new sprayer company – FarmGem – makes its debut at Sprays and Sprayers with a range of mounted and trailed models.
As the company’s name suggests, the new business has links to the GEM Sprayers company that was acquired by Case IH in 1997 and Hungarian sprayer manufacturer Farmgep.
The new machines are built in Hungary, as well as Slovenia in the case of a small vertical folding boom sprayer to be launched at Cereals 2010, but FarmGem directors Mike Would, Terry Fixter and Brian Knight of Knight Farm Machinery insist they have significant influence on the engineering and specification.
The FarmGem Diamond trailed sprayer with 12/20/24m boom, also being launched at the event, complements the higher-specification 3000-litre Self Trak.
It comes with a choice of 2000- or 2500-litre roto-moulded polyethylene tanks with large clean water rinse containers, chemical induction hoppers, protective clothing lockers, hand rinsing facilities and common safety features as standard.
Axle suspension with a choice of wheel equipment is included, along with full road lighting, ergonomic control valve layout and stainless steel spray lines with constant boom re-circulation. Rigid and Self-Trak drawbars are available.
The 2000-litre model goes to 21m, while the 2500-litre version has a new FG 12/24m or 12/20m boom also available on the Self-Trak 3000.
The FS 1500 mounted sprayer from the FarmGem range.
HARDI
An updated version of Hardi’s Master high-spec mounted sprayer to be shown at Cereals comes with bigger capacity 1500- and 1800-litre tanks complementing the existing 800- to 1200-litre tank sizes, and a vertically folding boom that provides a compact transport configuration for easy yard-to-field mobility.
The Master Plus also has a new design 25-litre TurboFiller chemical induction hopper with powerful liquid circulation designed to mix all types of chemicals – including powder formulations – quickly and safely. A built-in rotating nozzle cleans containers and the induction hopper itself.
Hardi’s new vertically folding Pro boom comes in 12m to 24m sizes. Its steel lattice construction is designed to optimise weight and strength, say Hardi engineers. It also features self-levelling suspension with a heavy-duty coil spring that absorbs sudden movements and an anti-yaw device to help fore-aft stability.
Independent tilting of either side of the boom, as well as whole boom slanting, is part of the standard electro-hydraulic control package. This can be upgraded to the HC 2500 or HC 5500 automatic spray controllers, which use sensors for speed and flow to ensure constant application rates across different working speeds.
Hardi’s uprated Master Plus mounted sprayer comes with bigger tanks up to 1800-litre capacity and a vertical-fold boom.
Kuhn enters the Sprays and Sprayers arena for the first time with the trailed Atlantique (pictured), which is available in 2400-, 2800- and 3200-litre sizes with 18m to 30m steel/aluminium or all aluminium booms. Models new to the fledgling range are the entry-level Baltique trailed sprayer with the same tank sizes, but simpler specification and the mounted Altis, which features suspension on the tractor mountings to reduce stresses and strains when travelling between farm and field.
Landquip will demonstrate its new tri-fold aluminium boom in the arena. Available for railed Landquip models such as the InTrac, the RHA3 is available in 32m, 34m, and 36m widths, all capable of also working at 24m. New aluminium profiles for optimum strength keep the weight down; a 36m model weighs 680kg – at least half that of a steel equivalent, says Landquip’s Richard Abbott.
Knight’s tractor-mounted sprayer range is being extended by a 1500-litre/24m model to complement existing 1000- and 1200-litre sizes. Its chassis and slim tank are designed to locate the weight of the sprayer as close to the tractor as possible, while the back-frame allows the booms to fold alongside wide tractor cabs. The high-spec “1500” has triple nozzle bodies with air operation for rapid on/off response, Müller Spraylight with automatic rate control, and MAXImiser plumbing to minimise pipe lengths and the quantity of spray liquid retained at the end of each job. GPS nozzle switching, automatic boom height and level adjustment and an air-sleeve boom for maximum penetration of dense crop canopies can be added.