Our new, second-hand ‘Baby’

May 1st, 2014 | Equipment

Baby sprayLet’s make one thing clear – spraying the vines is something we don’t like to do, but unfortunately, owing to the vagaries of our climate, it is a necessary evil. Clearly we make every attempt to keep our interventions to the minimum, and always try to use the most environmentally friendly treatments that we can find, but in the end, hand on heart, we are never going to simply sit back and watch our fruit rot on the vines. There’s no doubt that Galicia is a beautiful corner of Spain, but it is also has a very damp climate, which explains why the coastline of our province is just so verdant.

In giving the treatments, one simple, ongoing problem that we have always had is when our tractor has to negotiate the space between the pergolas with crop spraying equipment in tow. Some of the manoeuvres required can be a bit tight, especially around the perimeter of the vineyard. In the past we have tackled some of these tight corners by using a special hose attached to the main reservoir of the equipment, spraying by hand, but obviously this is very time consuming, and of course, we all know the simple equation: Time=Money!

Our solution to this problem has been by making a relatively small outlay, buying a good quality, second-hand ‘Baby’ crop sprayer with 500 litre capacity (the ‘Baby’ sticker was already on the tank when we bought it). With the continued wet weather it had it’s very first outing only a day or two ago, and the good news is that it seems to make the whole task just a little more efficient. Hopefully it will soon pay for itself simply by the time we save.

Baby sprayLet’s make one thing clear – spraying the vines is something we don’t like to do, but unfortunately, owing to the vagaries of our climate, it is a necessary evil. Clearly we make every attempt to keep our interventions to the minimum, and always try to use the most environmentally friendly treatments that we can find, but in the end, hand on heart, we are never going to simply sit back and watch our fruit rot on the vines. There’s no doubt that Galicia is a beautiful corner of Spain, but it is also has a very damp climate, which explains why the coastline of our province is just so verdant.

In giving the treatments, one simple, ongoing problem that we have always had is when our tractor has to negotiate the space between the pergolas with crop spraying equipment in tow. Some of the manoeuvres required can be a bit tight, especially around the perimeter of the vineyard. In the past we have tackled some of these tight corners by using a special hose attached to the main reservoir of the equipment, spraying by hand, but obviously this is very time consuming, and of course, we all know the simple equation: Time=Money!

Our solution to this problem has been by making a relatively small outlay, buying a good quality, second-hand ‘Baby’ crop sprayer with 500 litre capacity (the ‘Baby’ sticker was already on the tank when we bought it). With the continued wet weather it had it’s very first outing only a day or two ago, and the good news is that it seems to make the whole task just a little more efficient. Hopefully it will soon pay for itself simply by the time we save.

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