Allegro Custom Spraying

Yesterday I took time to ride with Alicia as she sprayed the last few acres of our winter wheat crop.  She is the operator of Spencer the Sprayer.  One day she may do custom spraying, therefore needs a name for her company.  She has decided on Allegro Custom Spraying, because it's fast, fast, fast!!!

This machine is amazing, as is the operator......

Reynald and Alicia spent quite a bit of time this winter modifying the truck tank that transports water for spraying, from our farm site to the field.

The fill mechanism to load Spencer.

Reynald bought the mechanism then had to modify our truck to make it all work, which was in fact, a bit of an engineering feat.

This is a four inch hose, which is one of the reasons we can fill Spencer so quickly.

Connecting the fill hose to the sprayer is quick and easy.  It takes three and a half minutes to fill 1200 gallons of water!  This was hard for me to believe until I saw it in person.  Just imagine, three and a half minutes to fill 1200 gallons of water!

The fill mechanism is easy to maneuver.

Connecting to Spencer.

Spencer has a motor that sucks the product in to the tanks, rather than pumping.

Another look at the hook up.  

And another.  Notice in this image, that the entry ladder is down.

 Once most of the water is in, Reynald and Alicia add the chemicals that we can not purchase in bulk.  Bulk chemicals are on the applicator in separate tanks.

This is a neat and tidy tool box, where Alicia stores her safety equipment.  

Reynald calls this "The Toilet Bowl"!  This is where they add the non-bulk chemicals.

The control panel for "The Toilet Bowl".

Adding the dry flowable product.  This particular jug is for cheat grass control.

And then the flush!!!!

Adding a liquid fungicide.  This particular chemical helps the plant roots fight off fungus that weakens their ability to uptake nutrients.

And this is perhaps the one of the neatest features of The Toilet Bowl.  You can rinse the jug with a nozzle that is in the middle of The Toilet Bowl!  

After those chemicals have been pumped in to the system, a little more water/fertilizer is added to fill the tank to the top.  Spencer is so smart, he knows when his tanks are full and automatically shuts down the intake of product.

Spencer is full and Reynald is disconnecting.  About one cup of water drips out after the disconnect!

Folding the fill mechanism back in to place.  

Replace the locking pin and that's that!

This was the first fill in the morning.  Once we were full, Alicia pulled in to the field.  The entrance ladder folded up (automatically!) and she unfolded Spencer's wings and we were off.

Entry ladder up in field position.

Unfolding Spencer's wings.

And we're off across the field.

There are quite a few controls on the joy stick.

And even more controls and buttons to push, and information to monitor on the screen.  

After 35 minutes of spraying, and 120 acres covered, we were back at the side of the road, ready to fill and do it all again. 

Back for a fill.

The crop looks so good this spring!

Plants are healthy and happy, especially with all the rain this spring.

Here comes Spencer!

Turn the corner, lock on to satellite guidance and back across the field. 

I was so impressed by the efficiency and accuracy of this machine.  However, I am very happy that I am not the one in the pilot seat.  I left the field and went home to prune some roses.  No technology involved!