Custom application operator Dwayne Poynter has used an Ag Shield to force crop protection products down into the crop canopy in his customer’s fields for two decades.Based in Minot, N.D., Poynter runs two high clearance sprayers, both equipped with a boom shield.”They move the leaves just enough so you put the product down where you need it,” says Poynter.”In foliar applications, I run the shield two or three inches into the canopy, usually eight to 10 .m.p.h.”When spraying fusarium head blight, he runs the Ag Shield about one inch above the top of the crop, being careful not to open the canopy and waste fungicide.”We also use it for herbicides in a heavy crop, when you’ve got those small weeds down in there. You can’t get those weeds with a conventional boom, but the shield opens things up so you get them.”Same with spraying insecticides. You hit the bugs down in the crop where they’re hiding.”Poynter says the Ag Shield’s ability to target the spray and get it into the canopy where it’s needed is every bit as important for his business as the ability to spray in windier conditions.
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