The Spraying of Citrus Trees 
A. C. Nichols, Clearwater 
This title might lead you to think that 
I was going to tell you all about this sub¬ 
ject. But actually all I have planned is to 
tell you how I handle the subject on my 
own grove, with no intention of offering 
advice to these experienced growers. 
When I first began to spray, and this 
was when I first owned a grove, I start¬ 
ed out with one of these man-power lever 
2-plunger pumps rigged up to a 50-gallon 
barrel and as an absolute novice, since I 
had never even seen any spraying done. 
The only reason I can see now for suc¬ 
cess with such inexperience and inade¬ 
quate outfit was the surprise on the part 
of the insects on these heretofore un¬ 
sprayed trees. I call this outfit inade¬ 
quate for, while it would handle two noz¬ 
zles, it was only at a pressure of 80 to 
100 pounds, and because of its inability 
to get over any job at all sizeable and 
get it done quickly. My only excuse for 
its use. was lack of cash to get anything 
more expensive. My next effort was to 
hire power machines. This proved gen¬ 
erally unsatisfactory because there were 
few machines available, they were dif¬ 
ficult to get just when wanted and often 
the work of the operators did not suit me. 
Then I got a used machine myself but it 
was of small capacity and I finally grad¬ 
uated some two years ago to a new, 
large machine having a triplex pump ca¬ 
pable of handling four nozzles or two 
guns at 250 pounds pressure. Since then 
we have been able to get out and get a 
job done with certainty and dispatch. 
But no matter what machine a man 
uses, I believe one of the most potent 
factors for results from spraying is in 
thorough work. I have seen a mist drift¬ 
ed around and through a tree which was 
called spraying. I think a better term for 
it would be a waste of money, for such 
work can not be expected to produce re¬ 
sults. In my own grove, though we 
try to spray thoroughly, I have seen 
where some bunches of oranges were mis¬ 
sed by an operator in a lime-sulphur 
spraying for rust, and this fruit continue 
to rust right on in spite of the known 
killing power of the fumes as well as of 
contact. Then what effective control 
can be expected of careless spraying, say 
with the emulsions, where only actual 
contact kills? In our own grove we first 
get inside of the trees and thoroughly 
spray there, then take the outside begin¬ 
ning on the side away from the machine 
and, if using rods, thoroughly working 
the nozzles in and out amongst the fo¬ 
liage. We generally go back inside the 
tree a second time on the opposite side in 
order to thoroughly cover. We normally 
spray under 225 pounds pressure. For 
the emulsions, at the beginning of each 
