A short item in  the April, 2001, issue of No-Till Farmer on the double nozzle sprayer brought additional information in the form of a letter from Robin Taylor of Ohio State University and Spray Redux LLC, the company that is developing the sprayer, along with Jerry Doll, a University of Wisconsin weed scientist.

“The considerable press coverage that has resulted since the sprayer was developed at Ohio State and licensed to Spray Redux LLC a year ago has proven to be both a blessing and a bane. While the publicity has benefited the company’s attempts to market the device, it has resulted in misconceptions and overly high expectations by some people.

“While the active ingredient (AI) of pesticide is applied at reduced volume, the total volume applied of AI and water is the same as applied with a conventional sprayer. The similarity to the spinning disk controlled droplet application (CDA) is limited to the application of AI only in fine drops.

“The failure of the CDA unit was its inability to place small, biologically active droplets onto the canopy. Unlike the CDA unit, the double nozzle provides a transport system to carry fine AI droplets into the plant canopy.

“The savings in chemicals is obtained by not placing AI into larger droplets that form the spray cloud, which contribute almost nothing to efficacy. In short, the double-nozzle has the AI-reducing advantage of the CDA unit with the targeting ability of a conventional hydraulic system.

“The double nozzle was extensively researched…