Renewable Farming

Why solutions flow more easily through your sprayer tips with WakeUP

Computerized field sprayer systems revealed how WakeUP makes spray solutions easier to pump through spray tips and in-furrow system orifices.

Farmers occasionally phoned from the field to tell us: “When I added WakeUP Summer to the spray solution, the computer reduced the pressure by three pounds to deliver the same rate of spray per acre.”

July 13, 2017 — Some of this pressure reduction might arise from the fact that WakeUP helps keep spray systems cleaner. But most of the easy-spraying quality probably arises from the “colloidal micelle” structure which WakeUP builds as it blends with water in your spray tank. You can see that happen; water turns slightly milky as about 100 water molecules cluster around each ionically charged WakeUP colloid. These clusters become, in effect, tiny “ball bearings” which repel each other because each is negatively charged. 

This is the unique effect of colloidal micelle technology when used as a surfactant to reduce the “stickiness” or surface tension of water. Other benefits include bonding with positively charged ions in your spray-solution payload of foliar nutrients or crop protection products.

Even without a computer-controlled sprayer, you can see the easier flow effect of WakeUP with a simple “red ball” monitor on an in-furrow nutrient delivery system. The 6-row planter we use in our research strips is equipped with two identical 12-volt pumps, each pushing nutrient solution to three rows. If we put WakeUP at a dilution of 1 ounce per gallon of nutrient solution on one side, and leave WakeUP out of the solution on the other side, the flow differential shows up immediately on the red ball flow monitors.

Even though the two sets of red ball monitors aren’t aligned side-by-side precisely in this photo, you can see that the flow is greater in the set on the right side, where WakeUP is in solution. You can also see that the solution is milky, from presence of colloidal micelles.  With this manually controlled system, we have to calibrate the actual gallons per acre flowing to each treatment, adjusting the pressure as needed to assure the same rate of nutrient in each test treatment with and without WakeUP. That’s adjusted automatically in a computer-controlled system when you set the gallons per acre on the computer.

Left set of monitors: Water alone. Right set of monitors: Water with WakeUP Summer in solution

The point of this little illustration is to show that WakeUP colloidal micelle action changes the physical behavior of water. Reduced surface tension makes spray solutions easier to pump, and greatly improves the spreading of spray coverage across leaves for faster, more through absorption.