I have no idea what size and type of sprayer.
I have never done this before.
What do you suggest?
Well, that is what I was referring to earlier. You need to decide what size and type sprayer you are going to use and buy a tractor that can handle it. There is no sense in buying a tractor too small for the sprayer.
I have never used a Jacto sprayer yet but I am strongly looking at buying one as they look very well built and are priced well. They have some nice features also but are rather new in my area. Here is a small 3pt mounted unit they sell that only requires 18 pto hp. However, a 50 gallon tank will only do a half acre as you want to put 100 gallons of water on per acre. So 2 acres would require you to fill up 4 times which gets old but it is an option.
Jacto: Arbus 200 Airblast Sprayer
Now if you go with a 100 gallon tank it will do an acre per fill up but you need a 40pto hp tractor (and I agree from experience). This tank weighs 640 pounds empty plus the 800 pounds of water and you have almost 3/4 ton hanging off the back of the tractor which is a lot for a small, light tractor (my 1920 struggled with the weight more then power on the 100 gallon 3pt Berthoud sprayer I used)
http://www.jacto.com/sprayers/agricultural/airblast/arbus_400.html
However, if you go with a 150 gallon trailer sprayer you can get by with 20 pto hp on flat ground. I have looked this sprayer over well and it is very well built and balanced. However, if you are on hills you will want a bigger tractor in front of it as it will push a small tractor around.
Jacto: Arbus 500 Airblast Sprayer
Any larger a sprayer then the Arbus 500 and you will need considerably more power to run the pump and handle the sprayer. But for your acerage I would go with the trailer unit for two reasons, you can use a smaller tractor (as long as your on flat ground) and the trailer sprayer is a lot easier to hook up then the 3pt air blast sprayers. They build the 3pt units so they hug the back of the tractor to keep the weight close to the tractor but by doing so it makes it very tough to hook them up.
If you do go with a loader on the tractor and it isn't quick detach you will want to keep it up in the vineyard and pay close attention in your orchard as if you forget about it one time it will do a lot of damage to a tree or vineyard. They are not very handy in orchards and vineyards and more of a liablility so if you can get a quick attach/detach loader then you will have the best of both worlds. I finally put the loader back on my 1920 as it has been off since early spring when I started working in my vineyards and orchard this year.
