Strawberry growers using conventional boom sprayers find it difficult to obtain good disease and insect control due to poor pesticide coverage on the undersides of leaves, on the lower leaves, and on the fruit when the strawberry plant is in full canopy. Inadequate crop protectant coverage results in higher levels of disease and insect activity translating to consumer rejection of poor quality fruit and lower overall profitability of the planting. 

This project allowed an opportunity to work with strawberries: a high value crop with a low, 3-dimensional canopy. Strawberry diseases are a big concern for growers, so adequate spray coverage is important; better coverage would allow growers to make fewer applications of fungicides during the growing season.


Designing a Better Sprayer for Pesticide Application in Strawberries (pdf; 221KB)