Winterize Your Sprayer Equipment

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

For many row crop farmers and rangeland managers, spray applications are done for the year. But in many cases, it’s important to winterize that equipment for before the risk of freezing temperatures.

David Russell is an extension weed specialist with Auburn University and the Alabama Extension Service.

Russell… “You want to run clean water through that system and make sure that all the product is cleaned out of the tank and the screens and the tips. And then basically you're going to continue running that pump until all the clean water has been run out of that system. And then at that point, you want to check all the screens and check all the hoses and make sure it's being claimed out. Most importantly, I think is to make sure that the water has been removed from the pump. And in some cases, depending on the size, a lot of those are winterized by simply taking it off the equipment and then putting it someplace where it's not gonna be frozen from outside temperatures. But, it's not uncommon for antifreeze to be run through the system, and then a little bit of that antifreeze to be left in those pumps, just to prevent any freezing or cracking through the winter months.”

For those that still have spraying to do this year, check out David’s “Sprayer Calibration Made Simple” document on the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service website.