A NEW liquid-fertiliser application system was launched at Wagga Wagga, in NSW, last week.
Manufactured by Stoll Spraying Equipment, the system can be used to apply liquid fertiliser, trace elements and a variety of chemicals, such as herbicides and fungicides.
Known as Stoll's Liquid Injection System, the unit was developed to cater for a growing demand for liquid-fertiliser use in broadacre farming.
Stoll Spraying Equipment principal Jarrod Stoll said the past two years had seen a huge increase in the demand for liquid application systems.
"We have been manufacturing various components for broadacre liquid-fertiliser applications for six or seven years but the increased demand led us to design a complete system," Jarrod said.
"So we made the Liquid Injection System from the ground up and it's all put together here in Wagga," Jarrod said.
He said not only had there been a swing to liquid-fertiliser application for broadacre farming, and demand for the ability to apply trace elements in liquid solutions was growing.
"Many cropping customers are now happy to mix up blends of various trace elements to match specific soil requirements," Jarrod said.
"There seems to be a trend towards making specific recipes to match soil analysis."
The Stoll liquid system can be retrofitted to a range of broadacre equipment including air seeders and cultivators.
"We can install a new set-up, which includes pumps, lines and rate controllers, or work with what the farmer already has, which may be just be a chassis and tank," Jarrod said.
The liquid system works on similar principles to a broadacre sprayer.
The liquid is held in a large tank and pumped under pressure through a line that is typically located at the end of a tine or near a seeding disc.
Each line has its own pulse-width-modulation valve, which monitors and controls the flow of the liquid.
The PWM valve does the same job as the nozzle of a boom spray.
Jarrod said the PWM valve acted like fuel injector in a petrol motor.
"The valves 'talk' to the system's rate controllers," Jarrod said.
Depending on what is being applied, application rates can vary from 50 to 100 litres a hectare.
- For more details, phone Stoll Spraying Equipment on (02) 6925 4222.
