System for spraying plants with automated nozzle selection

A method for spraying plants comprising:

• estimating, with a location-determining receiver, estimating a position of a sprayer with respect to one or more rows of plants;
• measuring, with a first distance sensor associated with a first spraying row and a second distance sensor associated with a second spraying row unit, a distance between nozzle assemblies of the first and second row units and a corresponding segment of the rows of plants, wherein the first spraying row unit and the second spraying row unit are spaced laterally apart from each other supported by a boom assembly of the sprayer, and each of the spraying row units comprise one of the nozzle assemblies that are each configured to independently target multiple lateral zones on the ground
• selecting, with a processor, different combinations the nozzles for each time interval for alignment with a dynamically adjustable target zone associated corresponding segments based on an estimated position of the sprayer in the field
• controlling, with the processor, the nozzle assembly of the first spraying row unit and the nozzle assembly of the second spraying row unit independently of each other based on the measurements of the first distance sensor and the second distance sensor.

A system for spraying plants, the system comprising:

• a location-determining receiver for estimating a position of a sprayer with respect to one or more rows of plants;
• a first spraying row unit and a second spraying row unit spaced laterally apart from each other on a boom assembly of the sprayer, each of the spraying row units comprising a nozzle assembly configured to independently target multiple lateral zones on the ground, nozzle assemblies each comprise a first set of nozzles at a first height above the ground and a second set of nozzles at a second height above the ground;
• distance sensors associated with each of the first and second spraying row units, the distance sensors configured to measure a distance between the nozzle assembly of its corresponding row unit and a segment of the rows of plants;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• independently control the nozzle assembly of the first spraying row unit and the nozzle assembly of the second spraying row unit from each other;
• select different combinations the nozzles for each time interval for alignment with a dynamically adjustable target zone associated corresponding segments based on an estimated position of the sprayer in the field.