PWM on sprayer

Banana Bar

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Thinking about a new sprayer, probably SP. PWM (Capstan system) seems like a no brainer to me, individual nozzle control, turn compensation, no need for lots of air pipes along booms. Seems like you cant lose ;)
So any negatives? We are running a trailed just now with auto section control (8 sections over 36M) but we obviously still get overlaps on headlands, especially with fertiliser.
Also anyone using PWM with liquid fert?

£27000 looked to be quite a downside when I had a quote.
 

quattro

Member
Location
scotland
I find it hard to believe How your going to get that back in yield or chem savings I’ve a field that’s drilled odd years on the curve ,yielded best this year I can ever remember (or since we’ve had a weighbridge)
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I find it hard to believe How your going to get that back in yield or chem savings I’ve a field that’s drilled odd years on the curve ,yielded best this year I can ever remember (or since we’ve had a weighbridge)

What is the cost of sub optimal dosing? How much chemical value do you put through the sprayer each year? For a 3,000 acre farm that's going to be hundreds of thousands of £, so £27k is soon diluted away if you can improve the performance of the applications as a result of the increased tech.

At wider boom widths and tighter curves IMO this is where you need it. On straight edged fields, this is not a good investment.
 

quattro

Member
Location
scotland
What is the cost of sub optimal dosing? How much chemical value do you put through the sprayer each year? For a 3,000 acre farm that's going to be hundreds of thousands of £, so £27k is soon diluted away if you can improve the performance of the applications as a result of the increased tech.

At wider boom widths and tighter curves IMO this is where you need it. On straight edged fields, this is not a good investment.
So if I’m drilling on a curve presumably the patch behind the tractor should be getting the correct dose
why is the yield meter not showing it up
I can’t visibly see anything different looking at the crop
how do you reduce chemical rate to get your money back
i appreciate it’s aimed at big farms
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
It's not about reducing chemicals - just not under or over dosing across the boom width. You'd need a big response to show on a yield meter and it will depend on boom width, header width, level of yield impairment from the wrong dose, weed levels from reduced doses and their impact on the field hygiene. What is the true cost of a black grass problem on a curved bit of the headland from sub lethal spray doses that develops into a resistance problem?

You're going to find the benefit much lower on gentle curves on 24m booms than you will on tracking much tighter curves with 36m+. Personally, if it were a tightly meandering watercourse I'd have a stewardship buffer strip to straighten the curves instead of PWM.
 

Hjwise

Member
Mixed Farmer
It continues to amaze me that people are willing to shell out the large cost for PWM in the UK. 99% of tramlines are straight and most UK arable fields are of consistent terrain (so you travel at a constant speed ). To my mind, in the vast majority of cases it is an extra layer of unnecessary complexity. The manufacturers gain, so I guess it’s not all bad.
 
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Banana Bar

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bury St Edmunds
It continues to amaze me that people are will to shell out the large cost for PWM in the UK. 99% of tramlines are straight and most UK arable fields are of consistent terrain (so you travel at a constant speed ). To my mind, in the vast majority of cases it is an extra layer of unnecessary complexity. The manufacturers gain, so I guess it’s not all bad.

We’ve just bought a new SP sprayer, nigh on £250k, I couldn’t get excited about the extra 27k for PWM.
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire

Oscar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hello @Nametab ,
Did Capstan ever release PWM on a section basis rather than individual nozzle basis. I talked to the capstan guy at Lamma in 2019 and he said it was possible/ they were looking at it. It basically reduces the cost of the system but at the expense of less accuracy.
Also roughly, how many machines (%) do you now send out with PWM now ? I m guessing 30 % ?
Regards, O
 

Nametab

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Hello @Nametab ,
Did Capstan ever release PWM on a section basis rather than individual nozzle basis. I talked to the capstan guy at Lamma in 2019 and he said it was possible/ they were looking at it. It basically reduces the cost of the system but at the expense of less accuracy.
Also roughly, how many machines (%) do you now send out with PWM now ? I m guessing 30 % ?
Regards, O
Yes - it's called Capstan EVO - so same as PinPoint, but max 16 sections, about £8-10K cheaper
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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