Buying Advice Need a recommendation on a 3PH Sprayer

[Atlanta Panther]

I'm tired of waiting on Southern States to come kill my weeds. Now that I have a new L3200, I decided to go take the applicator's' test and spray my own Grazon P+D (we have horses) - so I need a sprayer...

I would like to get one that runs off the PTO. I understand that the electrical ones can be finicky and I am not the most mechanically inclined to do maintenance on one. I'd like to get one that will have a boom that will cover spray maybe 10 to 20 feet as well as a spray gun to use on the fence line.

Not sure how big a tank I need. I have about 11 acres split into roughly four equal pastures. I guess I would probably spray mainly weed killer although perhaps at some point I might want to put some fertilizer out there to encourage the Bermuda pasture I want.

I'd like to stay under $1000. Is this possible?

Appreciate everyone's thoughts.

:confused3:

 

[Creamer]

I have a little Fimco that I purchased at TSC that works very well. It has a 12' boom so I can spray about 15' per pass. Since you can spray at 10 mph it will cover 11 acres very quickly. it has a large enough tank to hold enough to do half of that area. It is also very simple and you can put any type of nozzle on you want although the ones that came with it work fine for me.

I mated it with a small PTO mounted roller vane pump so for about $360 I have a sweet little system. For about $50 more you can get a wand if you want to do spot application from your tractor.

The 3 PH let's you set the height of your nozzles from what you are spraying.

It is also very easy to clean out. Just run it dry and then put some water in it and pump it through the system. Take the hoses off the PTO Pump and they drain out.

 

[Atlanta Panther]

I see this one...

Fimco 3 Point Hitch Mounted Sprayer with 6 Roller, 60 gal., LG-60-3PT-WP-309-TSC - Tractor Supply Online Store

Is this what you got?

 

[Creamer]

Basically. This is a newer model with the wand but it is the same basic thing. There are a number of these type of sprayers that I have seen and they are basically the same. Where you have a tank and the pump pulls from the bottom of the tank and the pumps to the nozzles with the over pressure relief back into the tank. Manual swing out booms that are spring loaded in case you do bump something. very simple and do a nice job.

The one thing I would recommend is that you put bumpers on the folding arms so that the nozzles do not hit when they fold in because if they fold in fast and impact it breaks nozzles. Any kind of bumper will work - a rubber cork is what i used. The placement to keep the nozzles from hitting is the key. What happened to me is that I went through a ditch and one end bumped the ground enough to get it to swing back and it hit nozzle to bar.

 

[kuboman]

I got myself a Hardi, it has 50 gal tank 14ft booms, spray wand and a pto driven sprayer mounted pump. It cost more than most but I considered it to be double the quality of most others and expect it will last as long as me.

 

[Creamer]

I got myself a Hardi, it has 50 gal tank 14ft booms, spray wand and a pto driven sprayer mounted pump. It cost more than most but I considered it to be double the quality of most others and expect it will last as long as me.

Why do you say double the quality? Is the tank thicker? the hoses made of different rubber or plastic? The nozzles bigger? I have had mine for 12 years now and have not had an issue with other than a busted nozzle due to impact. It looks like new.

A 50 gallon tank is rather small.

 

[kuboman]

Why do you say double the quality? Is the tank thicker? the hoses made of different rubber or plastic? The nozzles bigger? I have had mine for 12 years now and have not had an issue with other than a busted nozzle due to impact. It looks like new.

A 50 gallon tank is rather small.

Just seemed to have better build quality than the others I looked at. 50gal too small? That depends on how much you need to spray and what tractor your using.

 

[Atlanta Panther]

This Fimco looks pretty good and is in my price range.

However, I notice that Tractor Supply has several kinds of pumps - 4, 6, 8 rollers - What does this mean and what would I need for my situation?

Also some are on a torque arm and some are not? What's that mean? What would I need?

Finally, I see cast iron, Ni-Resist, and Silver series pumps. In other pumps I have seen "RoundUp ready". I gather that Roundup can be an abrasive/caustic that will eat up a regular pump. Am I correct on that? If so, since I will at some point spray roundup/generic, should that point me to a different material, i.e., the NI-Resist compared to a regular Cast-Iron?

Thanks so much for helping out the Rookie!

 

[kuboman]

The more rollers the more and constant pressure you can maintain. The torque arm keeps the pump from rotating otherwise it will have a chain.

 

[tom4018]

I am also looking at one, thought about this one: Fimco 3 Point Hitch Mounted Sprayer with 6 Roller, 60 gal., LG-60-3PT-WP-309-BL-TSC - Tractor Supply Online Store

Does the folding boom do a better job?