The concept is surprisingly simple. Think in terms of metal filings drawn to a magnet, lint to your clothes or dust on a record. In science, it is known as Coulomb’s Law, where opposite electrical charges attract and “like” charges repel. In everyday life, it is known as powder coating. With electrostatic sprayers, everything begins with the spray nozzle. A typical droplet of spray from a conventional air-blast sprayer is around 250 microns. Electrostatic uses an “air-assisted” nozzle, whereby the solution (chemical and water) is combined in a “shearing” action, which
atomizes the particles down to 30 to 50 microns. Then, just before the mist exits the nozzle, it is exposed to a negative charge. As the mist enters the canopy, it stalls, resulting in a “charged” fog inside the canopy; and this is when the magic begins.
The electrically-charged particles are automatically attracted to the
“grounded plant.” This charge is small, but the force attracting the spray to the “target plant” is up to 75 times the force of gravity. The particles actually reverse direction and coat the back sides of the vines throughout the entire canopy. This is referred to as “electrostatic
wraparound.” In comparison, a 250-micron droplet simply runs off a leaf
and onto the ground.
Then there is the second half of Coulomb’s Law, that “like” charges
repel. Since all of the spray particles leaving the nozzles have the same charge, they cannot collect into large droplets, which again fall to the ground. At the same time, the swirling particles are not attracted to areas already coated and continue to seek out uncovered surface areas until there is uniform coverage (deposition) throughout the entire plant. You have essentially “powder coated” your entire plant with no drips or runs. Since diseases and insects are usually hidden on the undersides of surface areas and deep inside the canopy, they can continue to survive if the spray coverage is spotty. The distinct advan-
tage of electrostatic spraying is the increased chance of the disinfectant
finding its target. One crop with serious disease issues is strawberries, which are dense, grow very low to the ground and are highly susceptible to mites. Electrostatic is now becoming the sprayer of choice because the pesticides migrate beneath the leaf.
ATTRIBUTES TO CONSIDER
Overall Efficiency, Water Savings, Chemical Savings and Labor Savings.

We were manufacturing our technology and selling it to other sprayer manufacturing companies to install on their sprayers. We felt we didn't have enough quality control and couldn't expand our technology so we decided to manufacture our own sprayers and not sell to other companies.