2.5.3.a How many sprayers are necessary to treat a vineyard?

How long does it take to fully treat a vineyard?

There are several possible vineyard protection strategies. Ideally, one has enough sprayer capacity to be able to treat the entire vineyard in one day in the event of a significant threat of fungal disease, following heavy rain for example (> 30 mm in a few hours).

To calculate this, it is necessary to determine the time needed to treat one hectare. On average, it takes 45 minutes to treat one hectare at Château Latour. Several parameters can affect this figure, notably the topography, the way the plots are divided, the number and area of the plots and the number of sprayer booms. For example, an area may consist of a single large plot, in which case the plot's treatment can be relatively fast. On the other hand, if the same area is divided into several plots, more manoeuvres are required and it will take more time to treat the whole vineyard.

What is a reasonable budget for sprayers?

Depending on the type of sprayer used, it is possible to determine an order of magnitude for the price. These are estimates, which may vary depending on the manufacturer, the brand, the options, etc. Face-by-face sprayers with an initial treatment boom seem to be the cheapest on the market, but they are only appropriate at the beginning of the growth season. The sprayers with collector panels seem to be the most expensive on the market, however, they enable savings on the products sprayed.