Pasture Sprayer

patrickg · May 20, 2002

So, I go to the toy store and try to buy a folding boom (three sections, center is stationary) sprayer. The nice sales guy says says you don't want a boom sprayer for pasture YOU WANT A BROADCAST SPRAYER so I buy one. Later a couple locals say you should have bought the boom type as it is less effected by wind (this is Oklahoma where the wind comes weeping down the plain) So I try to install a coupling on the rotary PTO pump and plumb it to the sprayer. I get everything hooked up and put some water inthe 165 gal tank to make a test. It shoots a very narrow pinpoint stream straight back about 30-40 feet. I have TnT and with this I could fight fires with great precision. I call the store and arrange to get a new nozzle. Seems mine was missing a part. You open the back window of the cab and lean out past your waist to reach the lever to turn the spray on or adjust the pressure regulator. So I build a spacer thingy to bolt on where the controls used to go, extended all the lines, and put the controls on top of the spacer (angle iron aout 2 ft long). You don't have to be an acrobat and contortionist now.

Sprays a 30-40 ft swath (+/- wind drift). There, got the background and amusement done...

Got conflicting directions on how to calibrate the unit. Any suggestions? I need to try to figure out how how much material I am delivering. If I go at a fast walk I don't get complete wetting so I'm guessing I'll have to go pretty slowly yet some directions talk about 3 to 4 or even 5 or 6 MPH. Supposedly knowing folks have told me they run maybe 20-30 lbs pressure. Book on mine talks about 50-60. I can easily get 100 if I partially shut the recirc valve.

To a degree I would think you could increase the concentration in the tank to compensate for not drenching the surface of the plants as thoroughly. Of course this would only work within a reasonable envelope. Do the folks who know what they are doing use COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) dyes and foaming agents to see their coverage or do they figure it out and they know how far to stay from the tracks left on the last pass?

I now have somehing less than 30 minutes spraying time (with plain water). My best success so far was to use the included spray wand/pistol to spray clean the tractor and FEL.

Patrick

cowboydoc · May 20, 2002

On most sprayers you have several different levers that you can control your lbs. and your spray. Depending on what you are spraying you set it up to spray at a different rate per acre. This is on regular farming sprayers. I'm not sure what you have for sure so it's kind of hard to advise you on what to do. Everything should be set from the factory and then you just dial it in for what you are spraying. From there you will have a specific speed that you need to keep your tractor at as well.

As far as marking my sprayer drops a piece of tissue when I want it to. I usually drop a couple along the line so I know exactly where I am.

MikeGross · May 20, 2002

I have used an small tow-behind Agri-Fab sprayer for liquid application and a broadcast spreader for granual application. I found it easiest to set the application rate by marking an area in my lawn, say 500 sq. ft., then filling the sprayer/spreader with a known quantity, applying the material, and then estimating how much is still left in the sprayer/spreader. This would tell me if I need to adjust my speed or application rate.

I have been looking into purchasing a sprayer for lawn and pasture weed control and fertilizing. The Agri-Fab is way to small. I would appreciate any suggestions people have for purchasing a sprayer as well as using one. So far these are the choices I am facing for a sprayer:

1) Electric pump vs. PTO,

2) Tow vs. 3PH,

3) Spray boom vs. broadcast (I would prefer boom to mimimize drift).

patrickg · May 20, 2002

[censored], man! Why not spend a couple more bucks and get one that doesn't require you to be there? Actually I admire effective automation and with a larger more frequent job on your baronial estates you need more sophistication than I.

My sprayer came with a missing part that dispersed the stream coming out of the nozzle. I have it replaced now, everything is ready to test for delivery rate as soon as I finish this post. Chart that came with sprayer doesn't mention the number on my "new" nozzle so I will determine gal/min and pattern empirically. Once I know how wide the effective pattern is and the gal/min I can factor in tractor speed and determine the dilution to use. I'm going to spray Remedy with an added surfactant. Spraying over native grasses to kill "poor man's alfalfa" and try to hurt the proliferating persimmons.

Although there is a continuum of dilutions and matching travel speeds versus gal/min at whatever pressure, using too strong a mix and driving fast isn't the same as a more dilute mix and slower speed. What changes, of course, is the amount of water to spread the chemical on the foilage and the number of tank fillings to do the job. There are extremes at both ends but having little experience, I try to get good advice, understand the advice, and stay near the center of the envelope until I develop an experience base. At about $100/gal to $89/gal for Remedy I don't want to spread it too thin and have to do it again to get it right nor go too heavy and waste this liguid gold.

I can run from 10-100 PSI but higher pressures tend to create easily blown mists along with the droplets. I hope to not have to exceed 30 PSI even though the reducton in gal/hr will stretch the job. I won't have to do it too often so a little time once or twice a year shouldn't be too big a deal.

Well, I'll see if I have any better questions after I squirt out this tank of 160 gal in 20-40 gal increments and observe the results.

Patrick (goin' sprayin')

patrickg · May 20, 2002

Mike, Now that I am an expert (ha ha) with about an hour of sprayer time, I'll take a shot at a reply and see how badly I am gunned down by thte good ole boys. Well, they make all the different kinds for different reasons and to suit different folks tastes and sometimes requirements as well, when considered.

Some considerations:

1. Electric vs PTO: If you are going to spray much material in an hour for very many hours over the life of the sprayer, I recommend PTO over DC pump. PTO is a much better way to extract power from your tractor engine than the alternator. Even with a "lifetime waranty" alternator yo still have to do the R&R. I just installed my first PTO pump and it was dead simple in spite of the "great advice" (NOT!) that I got at the store.

2. 3PH vs tow: If you want a tank bigger than you can carry safely, then you tow. 3PH is much more manuverable around obstacles, in rough terrain, and in close quarters but smaller tanks need filling more often and it could give you more down time going back to refill.

3. Boom vs broadcast: Imagine trying to spray between obstacles closer together than your boom width or getting between a corner post and a tree or whatever manuevering nightmares occur in real life when you aren't out in a giant flat field or in a row crop situation. If however you are in the Salad Bowl of America (Imperial Valley in SOCAL) then big booms are the only way to go with horizon to horizon pool table flat fields with no obstacles. With a boom you need to get right over what you spray, little to no "stand-off" distance. With a broadcast sprayer you could spray an irregular site from a little distance and not have to actually drive through it. With booms long enough to do the equivalent you would have a manuevering nightmare unless you have the "pool table" clean fields. If the land is irregular enough, the tilt of the tractor could frequently put a boom tip into the ground. Sure they fold but you have to shut down the spray, get down, go set up the boom again, climb in, restart the spray and resume till next time. If your land is all smooth disregard this immediately preceeding comment.

Well, that's my "take" on the situation based on an hours trial and some visualization.

I have about a 45 minute spray duration with the current spray tip. I'm running 50-60 PSI and getting an effective swath width of about 40 feet. I have to go real slow to get ample coverage (about 2-2.5 MPH). I have to drive 8.25 miles to do 40 acres, with perfect rectilinear manuevers. In reality I'm hoping to not have to drive over 10-12 miles (while spraying) to do a 40 acre parcel plus the round trips to resuply. I estimate 45 min to return to base, reload, return to the theater of operations and launch another strike. That is 50% of the time spraying and 50% of the time driving back and forth to the base and watching the tank refill.

Bigger tank would be handy but... My Kubota is specked to carry 2030 lbs with the load's CG at 24 inches behind the lower attachment points of the 3PH. Fully loaded I think my sprayer goes about 1500 lbs with the CG about 18-20 inches behind attachment points. I feel comfortable with this load. I would like to have seen at least one baffle in the tank to reduce the "free surface" effect of the tank and its interesting seich modes (slosh shosh). 500 to 1000 lbs bouncing around feels "funny." Less weight than 500 and it doesn't matter so much or greater than 1000 and there isn't room for much sloshing but around 1/2 full it is noticed.

I originally intended to buy a boom sprayer but was "educated about pasture sprayers" by farm/ranch experienced sales personnel. Had a brief bout of buyer's remorse when I saw how much "mist drift" I could have in a wind but now that I have some seat time with the broadcast sprayer, I know I can't use a boom type sprayer very well on a lot of my land as it is far from flat and smooth. Also If I don't run the pressure up to 100-150 PSI there isn't nearly so much wind drift. Experienced folks recommend 30 PSI or less if you can get decent coverage, to keep the drift down. I have to call and get more info re spray tips as I think mine is too stingy. When purchased a part was missing on mine that served to fan out the stream. The store gave me a new tip but its number is (10) and the spray chart that came with it lists only two tip numbers: #42 DDOC and #64 DDOC. I haven't a clue yet what this all means but suspect I need a tip that has higher delivery rate at lower pressure to give larger drop size and less fine misting.

I'll settle back now and see what the real experts have to say to you.

Best of luck, whichever way you go.

Patrick

patrickg · May 20, 2002

Mike, Here iss a URL for info on low drift spray nozzles.

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_sccfrm/m1204/4_97/54260318/p1/article.jhtml

Patrick

patrickg · May 20, 2002

Mike, Here is a good resource for reducing wind drift of fines while spraying.

http://www.greenleaftech.com/

Patrick

Chillimau · May 22, 2002

Patrick, glad your up and spraying. Let us know how water and Remedy solution works. I have used diesel and Remedy only on the persimmons and it worked very well. Spot spraying seems to take for ever tho.

If we could figure out how to sell Persimmons for pies or the wood for golf club heads, we could pay for our places!

Gary

MikeGross · May 22, 2002

I agree that a PTO pump will make the best use of my tractor.

I was aware that the boom sprayer will be more difficult to navigate around trees, etc. but this shouldn't be that big of deal on my property. I was not thinking about uneven terrain causing problems with the booms. I have several areas with steep slopes that will certainly snag a boom.

Now I'm not so sure the boom style would be best for my application...

Thanks for the information, Patrick!