Spray application in partially closed high tunnels to manage drift in strawberry cultivation

Strawberry is the main soft fruit production of Trentino. It is cultivated under high plastic tunnels and cannon sprayers are among the most common equipment for pesticide applications in this Italian region. An experiment, to estimate the drift mitigation potential when treating high tunnel strawberries by a cannon sprayer, has been carried out comparing tracer dye deposit retrieved out from a 10-m long tunnel completely open or partially closed on the buffer zone side. As expected, the presence of a shielding barrier represented by an unrolled plastic sheet partially closing the frontal openings of the tunnel has significantly reduced the movement of sprayed solution out from the treated tunnel.