Astro Growth Regulator - Calibrate your Spraying Equipment

Failure to Calibrate your spraying equipment WILL highly likely result in either turf DAMAGE or POOR results.

To understand what Calibration is, (and why dilution rates DO NOT work) read on.

Astro 120 ME Growth Regulator - How to Calibrate

What is Astro Growth Regulators Mixing Ratio / Dilution rate… there isn’t one. That’s right that was not a typo.

Astro is a product that requires a set amount of Astro over a set area. There are no dilution rates, dilution rates do not work… because if 2 people (YOU and ‘John Smith’) were to use the same equipment and do the same dilution rate and John Smith walks twice as quick as YOU then John Smith is under-dosing by half compared to YOU…… or you are double-dosing compared to John Smith.

Therefore, you need to calibrate your equipment, to make sure YOU know what water volume YOU are using over a set area, once YOU know this you can then add the Astro rate into the water volume that YOU use for the area. Unless YOU know how much water YOU will use over 100 m2 YOU can NEVER get a set amount of Astro evenly over 100 m2, water is the only carrier you can use to achieve this, so calibration is a MUST.

Let us use Astro’s 20 mL per 100 m2 rate as an example. Apply in water using between 2 and 10 L of water per 100 m2 .

With Astro you can choose any water volume between 2 and 10 L for 100 m2. Once you have established YOU spray a certain amount of water over a set area (100 m2), you can then add the 20 mL of Astro into that volume and spray 20 mL of Astro evenly over 100 m2. For example, if John Smith sprays at 5.5 L per 100 m2 then John Smith puts 20 mL in 5.5 L of water to spray 100 m2, if YOU spray at 7.4 L of water per 100 m2 then YOU put 20 mL in 7.4 L of water to spray 100 m2.

Once you have established you can spray a set volume over that area, dose the 20 mL into that volume and away you go over 100m2. If using a hand sprayer it’s unlikely you will be able to spray as low as 2L per 100m2, therefore a range of 5 to 10L per 100m2 is what is more achievable.

How to Calibrate Pedestrian Spray Equipment

Spraying straight water on a concrete area is always best as it shows you how even or uneven you are and shows you how little water you need to cover an area well. Your aim should be to simply wet the concrete evenly, DO NOT flood it or make the water run/move, just evenly wet it.

Do a blank run with JUST WATER in the sprayer so you can get your walking speed and spray pattern right. Practice on a concrete driveway (or any concrete) with JUST WATER, measure out a concrete area of 10 m2 (yes that’s TEN square metres - i.e. 5 m x 2 m rectangle area or 3.17 m x 3.17 m square area) to calibrate and practice. This will show you how even or uneven you are actually spraying, once you think you are spraying evenly and correctly let the concrete dry, then spray the 10m2 again with water and time yourself with a stopwatch/iPhone.

For this Example, let’s say it took you ‘72’ seconds (we have made up 72 seconds – don’t use this figure to bypass calibrating your equipment), you then put your spray nozzle into a measuring container (i.e. measuring jug) and you turn it on for the same amount of time, in our example ‘72’ seconds, at the same pressure you just sprayed that 10 m2 of concrete evenly, be sure to maintain the same pressure as you did spraying the 10 m2 of concrete (i.e. maintain hand pumping for pressure with manual pressure units).

Let’s say (for our example) you measure 750 mL of water, so you have used;

750 mL over 10 m2.

Which is 7,500 mL over 100 m2.

Which is 7.5 L over 100 m2.

[Note: if you have more than one nozzle (i.e. 3 nozzle boom) either measure volume from all 3 nozzles or measure 1 nozzle and multiple by the amount of nozzles.]

So, using our proposed Astro rate of 20 mL, we would then put 20 mL of Astro Growth Regulator into 7.5 L of water and spray exactly like we just did on the concrete in terms of pressure, wanding pattern and walking speed and we will evenly spray 20 mL of Astro Growth Regulator over 100 m2.

This is an example, please DO NOT simply take this as a dilution rate of 30 mL in 7.5 L of water. To get a result you need to calibrate, if you don’t your growth regulation will not be reflective to the intended rate of Astro.

If your calibration figure of water is over the water amount allowed, in this case over 10L of water per 100 m2 for Astro Growth Regulator, then you need to start again and do it quicker, for example if you measured a water volume of 1,200 mL per 10 m2 (which is 12 L per 100 m2) then you need to do it again quicker, applying a little less water to get to at least 10 L (or lower) of water per 100 m2.

If an end-user reads the Astro label and says, “right the dilution rate / mixing rate is 20 mL in 5 L of water per 100 m2 – because that’s what it says!”, and they go physically apply 10 L of water (dilution) per 100 m2 then they will have actually applied Astro at double your intended rate of 20 mL per 100 m2. This is when turf damage can occur. Furthermore, if they mix at a dilution rate they think is right based on Zero calibration they can also under-dose which will lead to poor growth regulation.

If you are not getting a result or getting damage you are applying these products incorrectly. Turf Culture’s products require a ‘set rate’ over a ‘set area’ in a ‘specified amount of water’. YOU need to achieve and know the water volume within the specified amount of water by how you spray with YOUR spraying equipment. Water is your only carrier and vehicle to apply these products, without knowing the water volume YOU spray per 100 m2, YOU can never achieve a ‘product rate’ evenly over 100m2 (or your desired area).

Turf Culture

Astro 120 ME Growth Regulator
Active Constituent: 120 g/L TRINEXAPAC-ETHYL
For the Reduction of Leaf and Stem Growth of Grass Species and as an Aid to Turf Management.
APVMA Approval No.: 64368
For more information: PRESS HERE