Hand-held spot treatments are a popular weed and disease control method throughout the country. While this approach isn’t the most efficient method, it’s a useful technique that nearly all facilities rely on as part of their comprehensive program. Here are several ideas observed in the field that can help you get the most benefit from hand-held spot treatments:
- Calibrate your backpack sprayers and larger, cart-based spot sprayers. This can be done by simply measuring an area and spraying it with water while timing the process. The amount of water needed to cover the area gives you the application amount per 1,000 square feet or per acre and timing the process shows how quickly you should walk or drive to deliver the desired application rate.
- While calibrating, take note of how the water evaporates from the concrete or asphalt. After just a few minutes, you will see how evenly – or unevenly – your sprayer applies product so changes to the nozzle or components can be made to ensure a more even application.
- Affordable battery-powered backpack sprayers are available at local hardware stores for easier and more-consistent applications. Manual-pump backpacks have been the staple small-scale sprayer for some time, but inconsistent pressure can alter application rates. Battery-powered sprayers are worth a look if you want to improve efficiency and consistency.
- Battery-powered and traditional manual-pump backpack sprayers can be easily outfitted with dual-nozzle booms and used for spot treating areas of putting greens, grass bunker faces and other small areas where a hand-held, single-nozzle sprayer may not be the best option. These are ideal for spot treating larger patches of weeds or disease.
- Sprayers with a large plexiglass wheel are also available to precisely apply product to an exact area. A good example of how this can be useful would be applying a postemergence herbicide alongside a putting green collar to control weeds in the rough if you did not want any overspray into the more-sensitive collar.
There are many tools available for superintendents to enhance product efficacy while also improving maintenance efficiency. For more information on the most cutting-edge methods, please contact your regional USGA agronomist.
Southeast Region Agronomists:
Chris Hartwiger, director, USGA Course Consulting Service – chartwiger@usga.org
Steve Kammerer, Ph.D., senior consulting agronomist – skammerer@usga.org
Addison Barden, agronomist – abarden@usga.org
Information on the USGA’s Course Consulting Service