THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE 

 Vol. V. August, 1916. ' No. 8 



PIPING SYSTEM FOR ORCHARD SPRAYING. ^^^^ 



By George P. Weldon. Qami 



Promptness and thorons'lmcss are the two most important requisites 

 of spraying. The satisfactory control of a serious insect pest or fungous 

 disease can not be accomplished unless the spraying is done at the 

 opportune time, which sometimes arrives when, on account of wet 

 weather, the ground is so soft that the spray truck can not be moved 

 about through the orchard. Such • a condition as this has interfered 

 with spraying for scab of pears and apples as well as diseases and 

 insect pests of other trees, practically every spring, in some of our 

 orchards. The solution of this problem is found in the piping system 

 of spraying which enables the fruit grower to treat his trees at any 

 time during the season when rain is not falling. 



The cost of installing the piping system is quite heavy and is the 

 factor that prevents its general use. After installation the expense of 

 operation is much less than that of the commonly used gasoline power 

 outfit. Some figures for comparison may be of interest in this connec- 

 tion. Ordinarily three men are required to operate the gasoline power 

 sprayer, two nozzlemen and a man to attend to the team, pump and out- 

 fit in general. The usual capacity of a tank is 200 gallons. By worldng 

 steadily with water handy for tilling tanks, 10 tanks or 2,000 gallons 

 per day may be applied. It often requires, for thorough work, 10 gal- 

 lons of spray for every average sized bearing tree, thus the services of 

 three men are required to spray 200 trees per day, or an average of 

 66| trees per man. In the E. A. Gammon orchard, which is piped as 

 described later, it is not difficult to force 1,000 gallons of spray per day 

 through each lead of hose. It is stated by ]\Ir. Gammon that 10,400 gal- 

 lons were applied from 10 leads of hose in one day. To apply the same 

 amount of spray with power sprayers it would require the use of five 

 ordinary machines and at least 15 men to operate them. Counting on 

 an average of 10 gallons per tree, each man holding a hose in the 

 Gammon system would spray approximately 100 trees on an average 

 per day. If quicker service than this was desired an additional number 

 of hose connections could be provided. The amount of spray applied 

 per tree is often less than 10 gallons and depends very largely on the 

 spray being applied, and the pest that it is expected to control. 



In order that readers of this article may have as many specific details 

 as possible regarding the piping system of spraying, two systems in use 

 in Sacramento River pear orchards will be described. The first system 

 that was installed, as far as the writer has been able to learn, is that 

 in the Hayward Reed orchard, close to Sacramento, in Yolo County. 



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