Winterize and store your sprayer the right way, Part 2

By Erdal Ozkan, Ohio State University

This is a two-part series on cleaning, winterizing and storing equipment to prevent costly repairs. See part one here.

Last time, we covered the importance of properly rinsing your sprayer before winter storage. Now it’s time to move beyond rinsing to cleaning, winterizing and storing your sprayer correctly to avoid corrosion, cracked parts and costly repairs when spring arrives.

Cleaning

Rinsing the system with water may not fully remove chemicals from the sprayer. This could result in cross-contamination issues the next season. Residues of certain pesticides left in the sprayer might cause serious problems when applying a spray mixture containing those residues to a crop that is highly sensitive to that pesticide.

To avoid such issues, thoroughl