Spray application manual
31 January 2025
Module 9: Mixing, filling and transfer systems
9.1 Introduction to mixing, filling and transfer systems
Published 24 January 2025 | Last updated 20 January 2025
The purchase and set-up of mixing, filling and transfer systems should receive as much time and attention as the purchase and set-up of the sprayer itself.
Correctly mixing all the products that are included in a tank mix is essential to allowing the products to work as they were intended to. Dissolving and dispersing solid products can take time, unless procedures are introduced to improve their measurement, dilution and dispersion, along with the transfer of the products and water to the sprayer.
Systems that allow the operator to reduce the time taken to accurately measure and transfer products and water to the sprayer will increase efficiency by reducing time out of the paddock. Closed systems can also reduce the risk to the operator and may reduce the need for some items of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the mixing operation.
The greatest gain in productivity will come from reducing time spent out of the paddock, reducing the frequency of fills, not having to fold and unfold the boom, and reducing the distance to fill points.
Any practices that allow the operator to spray more hectares per hour (without increasing the spraying speed) should improve the overall level of control (efficacy), by improving the timeliness of the spraying operation.
Mixing and handling - Custom trailer
18 December 2024Mixing & handling spray chemicals and the benefits of a custom made trailer. Another video from GRDC's Spray Application GROWNOTES™ series.
This video appears in modules 1 and 9.
David Gooden: So we've designed this chemical mixing trailer to contain all the chemical that we need. We've purchased a mixing unit because we thought it had all the features that we needed to mix our chemical correctly. Some of the features with the mixing unit is that it has a cone tank and doesn't have any ledges inside which can retain chemical residue. It holds enough water for a full batch. It also uses the pump to suck the chemical and therefore not creating any air and foaming like a venturi system would. We run a clean water pump to keep the chemical and the clean water system separate. We run dry mate fittings in order to reduce the risk of chemical spill and we also use micromatic fittings to
suck from enviro drums.
The trailer has been designed to hold enough chemical for a whole day spraying,
we've got room for dry product, enviro drums and IBCs. We bring the clean water to the paddock in order to make it more efficient and on top of that we've brought the filling point of the sprayer to the front in order to make it quicker in the paddock to fill up.