Sprayer 3ph sprayers - need info

[Birdbrain]

Hello everyone,
I am in the market for a 55 gal sprayer. I have the classic problem of haing one big job to do now and then only the need of future maintenance afterwards. My project is planting a field (approx. 18 acres) in warm season grasses. I have to spray to kill the existing vegetation first. But after that, I will only have to do spot spraying for weeds and undesirable stuff.
So I am trying to balance the need for completing the first job without making a million trips, but not needing a huge sprayer in the future and while not spending a fortune.
My locally available options are a 40 gal FIMCO ($450) and a 60 gal ($778) from TSC or a Crop Care (Quoted at $1300) from a local dealer. Otherwise, it would be an order online option. I am inclined to a cheaper option for price alone, but might entertain a higher quality option for under 1000. So......opinions please.

Also, what are the pros/cons of the various kinds of pumps? Exactly how do they attach/work off the tractor. I am complete newbie for spraying, so trying to avoid a missing or incompatible piece that stops me in my tracks when I tackle the job. Tractor is a Kubota L3400.

Thanks,
Glen

 

[kennyd]

I would go with the 40 gallon unit and a PTO roller pump. The pump will set you back another 150$ or so, so for 600$ or less you would have a working setup.

The PTO pump just hangs on the PTO shaft with a chain to keep it from rotating.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hello everyone,
I am in the market for a 55 gal sprayer. I have the classic problem of haing one big job to do now and then only the need of future maintenance afterwards. My project is planting a field (approx. 18 acres) in warm season grasses. I have to spray to kill the existing vegetation first. But after that, I will only have to do spot spraying for weeds and undesirable stuff.
So I am trying to balance the need for completing the first job without making a million trips, but not needing a huge sprayer in the future and while not spending a fortune.
My locally available options are a 40 gal FIMCO ($450) and a 60 gal ($778) from TSC or a Crop Care (Quoted at $1300) from a local dealer. Otherwise, it would be an order online option. I am inclined to a cheaper option for price alone, but might entertain a higher quality option for under 1000. So......opinions please.

Also, what are the pros/cons of the various kinds of pumps? Exactly how do they attach/work off the tractor. I am complete newbie for spraying, so trying to avoid a missing or incompatible piece that stops me in my tracks when I tackle the job. Tractor is a Kubota L3400.

Thanks,
Glen

I have a 55 gallon Fimco on a 3 point mount with an 11 ft boom that I use regularly for pasture weed control. It's small enough to fit on my Ferguson TO-30 and the 6 roller pump runs off the PTO. The whole works cost about $500 about 5 years ago. If you are going to do a lot of spraying with glysophate(i.e. Round Up) you might want to get a special (read more expensive) roller pump that won't get eaten up by the acidic nature of those solutions. Otherwise a regular roller pump will do you and they are around $100 for a pump, torque reaction bar, and quick-coupler in a kit. The size of the tank dictate how often you'll have to "return to base" to refill. It also is determined to some extent by the tractor size. My TO-30 is a bit tippy at 55 gallons of mix(around over 500 lbs on the 3 pt) but that isn't a problem for your L3400. Most mixes are set up for 1-2 pts per acre and and the pump output and a tractor speed are maintained to deliver 10 gallons of mix per acre. So with a 40 gallon tank and the appropriate speed and flow, you can do 4 acres a load. With a 55 gallon tank you can do 5.5 acres per load.
Your $'s, your time, your choice. Hope this helps you.

p.s. Eliminating weeds from an old pasture is more then just a maintenance job after the first year. Think of the seed load in the ground all these years and some of these weed seeds are viable for 70 -100 years. You'll be at it for some time. If you jump on it hard for about three years , AND if your neighbors do the same, you'll make very rapid progress. If your neighbors don't , then figure you'll be after it for a long time. Don't ask how I know this!

 

[JimRB]

I found that spraying early in June gets rid of the bitterweed. I can go 2-3 years with spot spraying after. Horse like some of the weeds.

I have made the mistake of not removing the hoses on the pump and putting a few good squirts of engine oil in the pump. I spent too much time freeing up the pump stuck pump. Now I try to oil it after use. 10 minutes saves a few hours of frustration.

I got my 50 gallon boom sprayer for maybe $100 used. I used some JB Weld to repair the cracked filter housing 6 years ago. Another hint. Remove that filter housing and toss it in the tank after use. That way you do not trap water in the housing to freeze over the winter.

 

[lawn_king]

A pto roller pump is the way to go, hypro is about the best out there. If you dont want to spend big bucks on the sprayer, you could sub out the job to a lawn care company. We get a fair amount of feild service work? If a pro does the job all issues with the pesticide and insurence are covered.

 

[deere755]

I was just looking at 55 gal. sprayers today and a 6 roller pump. I can buy one at Rural King for $450 and the pump is around $165.

Have any of you had any luck calibrating one of them to get the rate of chemical you wanted. We just bid on some wild life plots and we have to also spray them as part of the bid. I want to be able to apply 10 gal of water per acre or real close to that. I was thinking of measuring of an area and seeing how much water I would use in that area and then adjusting one way or the other.

 

[lawn_king]

I was just looking at 55 gal. sprayers today and a 6 roller pump. I can buy one at Rural King for $450 and the pump is around $165.

Have any of you had any luck calibrating one of them to get the rate of chemical you wanted. We just bid on some wild life plots and we have to also spray them as part of the bid. I want to be able to apply 10 gal of water per acre or real close to that. I was thinking of measuring of an area and seeing how much water I would use in that area and then adjusting one way or the other.

You need to spend a few hours on asphalt, spraying water to get your calibration set. ground speed & pto speed are factors as well as the spray nozzles. Its well worth a few extra bucks for a pressure gauge.

 

[Mike120]

Just a quick calculation using typical volumes through a small sprayer indicates that you will use between 350- 400 gallons of water to spray 18 acres assuming a 10% overlap. That's a lot of trips. As Jerry/MT pointed out, weed control isn't a one-time effort.

 

[forester2]

Remember that calibrating your gallons per acre is based on several factors; travel speed ,volume put out per nozzle (based on pump and nozzle size), number of nozzles and total boom width. Use a manufacture's charts to select nozzle size(Spraying Systems for ex). Collect spray from one nozzle over a timed period and measure volume (example: one minute). Multipy by # of nozzles. You now know how much your boom puts out in a minute. Let's say it's 1 gallon total for all nozzles. You now know you need to spray an acre in 10 minutes to apply 10 gallons. Let's say your boom is 10'. An acre is 43,560 Sqft. So now you know you have to go 4356 feet in 10 minutes (43,560 divided by 10' boom width). I think that works out to around 5mph.

I'm not real wide awake this morning so I might have screwed up the math. If so, I apologize but I hope that gives you some idea. Not as tough as it sounds.

As for pumps; Centrifugal- low pressure high volume/ Roller- Medium p&v/ Piston- high pressure low volume (trees). Roller good all round choice however cent. is very low maintaince if it meet your requirements.

 

[deere755]

You need to spend a few hours on asphalt, spraying water to get your calibration set. ground speed & pto speed are factors as well as the spray nozzles. Its well worth a few extra bucks for a pressure gauge.

That is what I had in mind. The charts I was looking at yesterday was showing with the nozzels on the sprayer that at 40 psi at 5 mph would apply 10.1 gal per acre. I was thinking if I used plain water and measured off an area down a long grass lane we have to figure how many trips down the lane I would have to make to equal an acre and collect the water in a container. So if I was to cover one acre at 5 mph at 40psi and one nozzel put out 1.5 gal of water in an acre I would need to decrease pressure or increase ground speed.

 

[forester2]

Don't know how many nozzles you have nor boom width. Output is also changed by using different tips.

 

[Foodplot]

I'm not sure of your approach to planting your NWSG (native warm season grass). Do you plan to turn the soil, or are planting no-till? If no-till, you are likely to do two applications of herbicide, the type and timing of which depends on your soil and existing vegetation. If you are doing a one-time NWSG planting on just 18 acres, I would hire out the herbicide application rather than invest in an expensive 3-pt. spraying system that will collect rust and demand maintenance on a regular basis. If you want to do spot spraying and have an ATV, a 25 gallon spray tank mounted on that will be much faster and less trouble. We maintain about 1500 acres of biological research lands and, while we do our own herbicide apps for initial NWSG plantings, the spot sprayer on the ATV gets a lot more use. Post-germination NWSG weed control is generally via burning on a regular rotation and top-clipping, not via herbicide, as you will presumably have a mix of NWSG and native broad-leaved plants as well (forbs). Hope this helps.

 

[scrapironford]

I use a FIMCO 60gl 12ft boom 4.8gpm 12 volt electric pump on a 180 acre farm. Pressure relief valve allows adjustment of volume ,droplet size & pressure when useing different chemicals and tips. Calabration before each use is a good idea, to apply the proper amount of chemical and/or mixed solution per acre. This should be doccumented for liability reasons. I spray approxmitely 100acres per year ,4 to 25 gl per acre, and have had no sprayer problems other than my mistakes. There are better spray systems this one does a good job for me.

 

[Birdbrain]

I'm not sure of your approach to planting your NWSG (native warm season grass). Do you plan to turn the soil, or are planting no-till? If no-till, you are likely to do two applications of herbicide, the type and timing of which depends on your soil and existing vegetation. If you are doing a one-time NWSG planting on just 18 acres, I would hire out the herbicide application rather than invest in an expensive 3-pt. spraying system that will collect rust and demand maintenance on a regular basis. If you want to do spot spraying and have an ATV, a 25 gallon spray tank mounted on that will be much faster and less trouble. We maintain about 1500 acres of biological research lands and, while we do our own herbicide apps for initial NWSG plantings, the spot sprayer on the ATV gets a lot more use. Post-germination NWSG weed control is generally via burning on a regular rotation and top-clipping, not via herbicide, as you will presumably have a mix of NWSG and native broad-leaved plants as well (forbs). Hope this helps.

Hi folks,
Sorry, been away from the computer and this thread a few days travelling. Now back home and need to get moving in earnest.

Some more specifics on the project. It is a one time herbicide application prior to no-till planting of the NWSG. Future maintenance will be by mowing or burning. Yes, there is a mix of grasses, plants and native wildflowers to be planted. For future spraying, I need to spray 2 wetlands to kill non-native cattails this summer and whatever comes up in the future.

I understand everyone's comments about hiring it out. But this part of the project has become ridiculously frustrating. I have gotten absolutely nowhere with trying to find someone else to do the work. The contractors recommended by the state have been unresponsive for whatever reason (un-returned phone calls, not interested in doing only the spraying, etc.). The ag spraying concerns did not want to touch it (too small or did not want to use chemicals provided by others (which are already paid for through the state program)). All of this delayed the work from getting done last year.

So I have arrived at doing the job myself so that it gets done this year. In the long run, my best option may be hire out the big job and then get a 25 gal sprayer for maintenance. But if I can't find anyone, that leads me back to the 55 gal....

Thanks,
Glen

PS. Can't find a used one either.

 

[Tritonman]

I have a 60 gallon fimco with an electric pump and it suits my needs well. I spray 30 acres twic a year with it. All my roundup is done at 5 gpa and 10 MPH at 30 psi. You will burn out an electric pump each year, pretty much guaranteed so the roller is a better way to go.

 

[Birdbrain]

I did some sample calculations. See if I am one the right track.

From the FIMCO literature (for the 40 gal model), at 5 mph and 50 psi, 13.3 gallons per acre is applied. 40 gal tank / 13.3 per acre = 3 acres per tank. 18 acre job = 6 or 7 trips.

That does not seem too bad. The 40 gal unit saves initial expense of the larger unit (over $300) and won't be so oversized for future use.

Glen