Giancarlo Angileri: "Before Martignani, it took me twice as long to complete the treatment of my 280 hectares of vineyard."

We are in Marsala, a charming and elegant city located on the western tip of Sicily (Italy). Indeed, Marsala’s beaches and coastline are stunning and one of the main strengths of this area. But Marsala’s hinterland is also enchanting, with its vine-covered lands and ancient bagli, typical Sicilian buildings that combined productive and defensive needs, scattered here and there.

It is in this Sicilian countryside that the 280 hectares of vineyards of the Ideal Service company, client Martignani, are located. As the company’s owner, Giancarlo Angileri, explains, one of the main difficulties facing vineyards in this area is the risk of grapevine downy mildew. This is a disease caused by a fungal pathogen that affects the green parts of the plant, especially the shoots. In fact, the first signs are noticed on the leaves, but if the disease advances it can damage the entire cluster. Depending on the season’s rainfall situation, the risk of blight increases or decreases, and this year, Angileri points out, “we are very much at risk.”

To carry out vineyard treatments, and thus also to fight the disease, the Ideal Service company uses a Martignani NewPort20 1500-liter electrostatic sprayer, along with three conventional sprayers.

The Martignani NewPort20 is a high-performance trailed machine that is particularly suitable in hilly vineyards or those with narrow passages. In fact, it has a remarkable maneuvering capacity that facilitates operators’ work.

Uniformity of dye coverage with better result due to electrostatic charge

The owner of Ideal Service confesses to us that “Before I bought the car, I thought about it for three years. The cost of the sprayer a little made me doubt because it is a very important investment“. He then adds that “Now, however, I am very happy and convinced. We are working at 200 liters/hectare and manage to process 21 hectares per day with 3 fills (of 1500 liters). This means a very important saving of water and time“.

In fact, he explains that “the Martignani replaced two conventional 1000-liter sprayers with the fan. With them we used to work at 300 liters/hectare at the beginning of the season and then at 800 liters/hectare in the middle of the season, and now with Martignani- he retorts-we always work at 200 liters/hectare“.

This means very significant water savings, especially when we consider the treatments carried out in mid-season.

Among the advantages of the Martignani sprayer, Angileri emphasizes the speed of work and “the uniformity of dye coverage with a better result thanks to the electrostatic charge“. He also adds that “thanks to the potential of the technology, Martignani is saving 20 percent of product” compared to when using conventional sprayers.

Regarding time savings (labor and diesel), the owner of Ideal Service tells us that before buying the Martignani Sprayer he used to take 12 days in completing the treatment of his 280 hectares, while now with Martignani it takes him only 6 days. Exactly half. A 50 percent time savings translates into economic time savings due to less diesel fuel used, and less labor.

Martignani, for a greener world!