Looking for build ideas for a "Zero Drift Herbicide Applicator"

[NormL]

Where I live the winds rarely quiet down enough to safely apply herbicide near flower beds or fruit trees. With the dry conditions we are experiencing the last few summers the grass goes dormant and deep rooted vegetation - read dandelions, thistle, quackgrass keep right on growing, and growing, and..... I would like to apply weed killer to at least deal with the broadleaf intruders. The quack at least looks enough like the grass I'd like to encourage.

So, what I have in mind is something to pull behind the zero turn or one of my garden tractors. It should be wetted with the applicant and be heavy enough to rub the weeds with it as it passes over them. The materials I have on hand are enough ABS pipe to serve as the horizontal drip bar, plenty of baler twine to weave into a mat to drag behind the bar and mower wheels to mount to the framework holding the contraption. I have no drawings to share but I'm putting this out there in the hopes that someone has had an idea like this and has wisdom to share!

 

[dieselscout80]

Like your plan weed wipers are zero drift.

String Wing, 5' Wick Chemical Applicator | Agri Supply 71934

This String Wing rope wick applicator helps you to keep your chemical applications even. This 5 ft rope wick can attach to ATVs or tractors.

www.agrisupply.com

Smucker Manufacturing Sponge Weed Wipers

Use our, unique to the industry, sponges to wipe out taller growing weeds in your pastures and field crops. Take care of dicamba-resistant weeds

www.smucker.net

 

[NormL]

Like your plan weed wipers are zero drift.

String Wing, 5' Wick Chemical Applicator | Agri Supply 71934

This String Wing rope wick applicator helps you to keep your chemical applications even. This 5 ft rope wick can attach to ATVs or tractors.

www.agrisupply.com

Smucker Manufacturing Sponge Weed Wipers

Use our, unique to the industry, sponges to wipe out taller growing weeds in your pastures and field crops. Take care of dicamba-resistant weeds

www.smucker.net

I saw the String Wing during my search on TBN for something like I have in mind. The Sponge Wipers did not come up during my search but are equally relevant to my project. Thank you for posting them for me! One of the issues I will need to resolve when/if I build one of these applicators is how to regulate the flow of the herbicide mixture and what ratio of water to concentrate and the type available for non agricultural use. Though I live on a farm yard, I do not farm so I don't have the contacts that farmers have.

 

[CoyPatton]

Years ago, there were dome ‘string’ applicators around. As best my memory serves these years past, they were a heavy thick cotton based rope. Again as best my memory recalls these were mostly a gravity feed to the ropes and then a wicking function.
Not sure that a baling twine will give the same wicking effect as cotton.

On a side note, the newest technology for Ag liquid sprayers involves multiple nozzles per ‘row’ firing in a preset pulse pattern. Drift in light to light moderate winds in minimum to nonexistent. Of course those sprayers have the ability to be lowered to the crop height reducing the distance wind has to catch the sprayed particles, which is not near as easily done with homeowner spray equipment. The pulsing to differing nozzles would be involved as well.

Another related topic would be the chemical drifting with humidity. There was a major lawsuit a few years ago related to a specific chemical drift with humidity and fruit trees. The outcome must have been sealed as the info has not been wide spread, although more restrictions on the use of the chemical were instituted, certification require to purchase it, and changes to the ingredients to reduce this type of drift have happened.

 

[NormL]

Years ago, there were dome ‘string’ applicators around. As best my memory serves these years past, they were a heavy thick cotton based rope. Again as best my memory recalls these were mostly a gravity feed to the ropes and then a wicking function.
Not sure that a baling twine will give the same wicking effect as cotton.

On a side note, the newest technology for Ag liquid sprayers involves multiple nozzles per ‘row’ firing in a preset pulse pattern. Drift in light to light moderate winds in minimum to nonexistent. Of course those sprayers have the ability to be lowered to the crop height reducing the distance wind has to catch the sprayed particles, which is not near as easily done with homeowner spray equipment. The pulsing to differing nozzles would be involved as well.

Another related topic would be the chemical drifting with humidity. There was a major lawsuit a few years ago related to a specific chemical drift with humidity and fruit trees. The outcome must have been sealed as the info has not been wide spread, although more restrictions on the use of the chemical were instituted, certification require to purchase it, and changes to the ingredients to reduce this type of drift have happened.

CoyPatton, thank you for that! The design I have in mind is gravity fed and either wicking directly out of the bar or drip fed from the the bar to the mat positioned directly below it via small holes drilled into that bar. The holes could be spaced some 3/4" or so apart and 1/16th" in diameter to start. If flow not adequate, increase size of hole. I plan to experiment with water to determine application rates, etc. If I decide to wick directly from the bar, I will cut a slit the full length of the bar and slide twine in tightly enough that water/herbicide mixture does not pour out. Hose clamps every four inches or so would control that. That's what I'm dreaming about for now!!

 

[NormL]

Another idea:

I've done some more research and read about roller application using carpet covered rollers. I have scraps of carpet I can use and wetting that with garden hose fastened to the carpet and drilled with multiple holes along its length could work as well as what I had considered at first. A five gallon pail as the tank and mounted about seat height of my garden tractor with a shutoff valve in line should cover a fairly large area. As I mentioned earlier, I will experiment with water only to get a handle on flow rates and the mix ratio to use based on that.

 

[Sberry]

I hate to rain on this but its not likely to work well. There are applicators, I have used somne but,,,,, its the type of chemical. If you can hit the top of the weeds without wiping the grass roundup will work but something specific which is what you really want needs to be sprayed.
I designed a deal the other day and they still kind of fugged upo the rate, I am going top look later tofay to see how it might have worked out. There are side shields can go on.

 

[Sberry]

Took me a while to get my mind around the rates. Limited pump.

 

[NormL]

Took me a while to get my mind around the rates. Limited pump. View attachment 704803View attachment 704804.

You've put a lot of gear on the back of that little tractor!! Is the front end jumping up when you start out or hit bumps? Anyway, it looks like you are way ahead of me with your implement. I'm hoping to keep mine simple as possible. I'll begin with gravity transfer with the supply at about seat height like yours but the drip line about 3" from the target/ ground level. The holes in my drip line are 1/16". If that proves to be less than sufficient, I'll make 'em bigger. I'm almost ready to try it out with just water to see if my system works and what the application rate looks like at slow speed. My drip line is a garden hose five feet long with the holes drilled approximately 5/16th" spacing. I'll start by filling the reservoir (5 imperial gallon pail) and timing the flow and comparing the flow when full and near empty. My guess is I'll be varying my ground speed as the reservoir empties.

 

[Sberry]

I been spraying a while but some simple concepts escape me and I had the tech stop by to get my mind wound around this due to volume. I added a bypass to be able to regulate pressure. I figured it out abs still did it wrong. Basically a positive displacement pump.
Doesnt appear to have hurt.

 

[workinonit]

I had a wick bar applicator for years that I used on Johnson grass and bahaia. It worked great and would be so simple to make. The thing with the wick bar is the plant you want to kill has to be higher than the plant you don't want to kill.

 

[NormL]

I had a wick bar applicator for years that I used on Johnson grass and bahaia. It worked great and would be so simple to make. The thing with the wick bar is the plant you want to kill has to be higher than the plant you don't want to kill.

Workinonit, you've pointed out the reason I am trying a gravity fed drip system first. The weeds I wish to target (dandelions and thistles, etc.) are not all standing higher than the grass. Some are, but not all of them. For that reason, I will be using a herbicide which targets broadleaf weeds. Because of the wind factor I spoke of in my first post, I don't want to spray as that invites drift. Another consideration is the mix rate. Can I dilute the herbicide a bit more since the drip should be applying more liquid than the spray? I'll have to look up Johnson Grass to see if that's the same as what we call Crab or Couch Grass.

 

[LD1]

I think putting some shields on an already proven spray system will be alot easier than trying to make your own wicking system. OR at the very least....get one of the wicking applicators already posted. Why re-invent the wheel?

Once you get out in the open of the yard, drift becomes much less of a concern.

IF whatever day I decide to spray my yard is windier than I like....I spay the bulk of everything and stay far enough away from flowers and the garden. Then I can go back with my backpak sprayer that I have alot more control over and hit around the edges

 

[NormL]

Workinonit, you've pointed out the reason I am trying a gravity fed drip system first. The weeds I wish to target (dandelions and thistles, etc.) are not all standing higher than the grass. Some are, but not all of them. For that reason, I will be using a herbicide which targets broadleaf weeds. Because of the wind factor I spoke of in my first post, I don't want to spray as that invites drift. Another consideration is the mix rate. Can I dilute the herbicide a bit more since the drip should be applying more liquid than the spray? I'll have to look up Johnson Grass to see if that's the same as what we call Crab or Couch Grass.

Just looked up Johnson Grass and it's not anything like Crab Grass. The thing about Crab G is that it does not depend on seed to propagate. Rhizomes below ground result in grass-like blades popping up all over the place around the host plant. Pull up the plant and leave a small bit of the rhizome, it just starts another host plant!! Grrr...

 

[NormL]

I think putting some shields on an already proven spray system will be alot easier than trying to make your own wicking system. OR at the very least....get one of the wicking applicators already posted. Why re-invent the wheel?

Once you get out in the open of the yard, drift becomes much less of a concern.

IF whatever day I decide to spray my yard is windier than I like....I spay the bulk of everything and stay far enough away from flowers and the garden. Then I can go back with my backpak sprayer that I have alot more control over and hit around the edges

If my "re-invention of the wheel" proves to be a failure I will have to follow your good advice. In the meantime I get to play with my tools and exercise my "greymatter" in the pursuit of new ways to achieve the goals I seek! There! I said it and if folks think I'm crazy, they're probably right!

 

[oldnslo]

Is an option to run spray nozzles closer to the ground to reduce drift? Most sprayers seem to be designed to run 16 -18 inches above the crop is thaws lowered to 6 or 8 inches would that reduce drift? Can you get nozzles that will work that close to the ground and still provide coverage.

 

[workinonit]

Yea, crabgrass and Johnson grass are differnt headaches. Crabgrass grows low to the ground. Your wick will need to be very low. Is you ground that level? I like the idea of more nozzles very close to the ground at a lower pressure. You would basically eliminate any drift if you do that. BTW, we were using Roundup on the wick bar setup we had. You obviously can't do that. The reason we used the wick bar on JG was because it was in corn and anything that killed the grass would kill the corn. This was back before they had Roundup Ready corn and bean seed. None of this is an issue any longer.

 

[fried1765]

I had a wick bar applicator for years that I used on Johnson grass and bahaia. It worked great and would be so simple to make. The thing with the wick bar is the plant you want to kill has to be higher than the plant you don't want to kill.

Agri Supply sells several types of wick bars, both hand held, and pull behind.
1-800-345-0169
Great folks to buy stuff from!

 

[workinonit]

They sell just about everything.

 

[Sberry]

What is it you are trying to protect from drift? With a selective like 2-4-D it might not be such a concern. Its not the same as roundup that kills everything and is super sensitive where even a little will kill a plant. Might even take quite a bit to injure neighbor plants, and they make a couple flavors of it, one is a bit more volatile. You can add some oil to it, they do have a couple adjutants, couple to reduce drift and spread it some.
This drip idea is not really a good plan. The rate wont be right and some not designed to be a drench, they designed to use a specific or within a range of water per acre.
They do NOT want it running off the plant. Its not the correct method for this application. Most that are using wick are using roundup. They are wicking taller weeds.