With grape vines looking to shoot early this year and their spring growth flush, broad acre producers are being reminded to be extremely vigilant with their spraying.
As the coming spring spraying season approaches, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) is emphasising the need for producers to think about their neighbours, particularly those with vineyards, and to not underestimate the potential distance of impact of spray drift.
PIRSA’s Director of Biosecurity Laura Bruce said newly shooting grapevines are highly susceptible to many broadacre herbicides.
“Operators need to understand the way that different chemical formulations behave in the atmosphere,” she said.
“It is vital that spray operators carefully select the right chemical for the job, taking into account weather conditions and the risk of off-target damage or unacceptable residues affecting neighbouring land, plants or animals.”
Ms Bruce said certain weather conditions such as hazardous inversions can result in spray drift damage up to tens of kilometers from the application site.
“When planning a spray operation, producers must consider sensitive crops, even if they are some distance away,” she said.
“It is of critical importance that no spraying should take place under hazardous inversion weather conditions, which generally exist from late in the evenings, right through the night until early morning.”
Ms Bruce said producers must comply with all mandatory label conditions and are urged to take advantage of all weather station technical services, particularly including the use the Mesonet weather station grid, which provides observations to clearly identify inversion conditions.
“Agricultural chemical users are reminded to comply with the instructions on the product label, noting that many products now direct a specific droplet size for applications as well as buffer zone requirements,” she said.
“PIRSA will be conducting ongoing compliance-checks to identify poor spraying practices this season and will pursue any instances of deliberate or negligent use of chemicals in contravention of label instructions.
“Offences carry a maximum penalty of $35,000 per offence, reflecting the seriousness of not following mandatory label instructions.”
PIRSA encourages all community members and producers to report any incidents, alleged misuse or observed damage by email to pirsa.ruralchemicals@sa.gov.au or via the Spray Drift Hotline on 1300 799 684.
People can report anonymously to the hotline and all reports will be assessed for further action.
