Looking for a Ford for 4 acres - Vineyard

[Robert_in_NY]

What exactly are you using the sprayer for?

The ones I have seen in my area are just trailers that are pulled around.
They have gas motors that run the pump.

Won't something like this work?

You will have to look into them. The sprayers with motors are generally at least 400 gallon tanks and are heavy implements even empty. Plus they are considerably longer then a pto unit which may be a problem if you are in tight areas.

The air blast sprayers are what you need to get a good coverage on your trees and vines to protect them from disease and insect damage. You really should talk to someone in your area who can help advise you on setting up your farm as well as guide you to the right equipment for your operation. I am trying to guide you from my own experience with vineyards and orchards on both flat ground and hilly ground and that experience is saying you do not want a low horse power, light tractor. You do want a small tractor (narrow) but with enough weight and power to handle your jobs and ground conditions. An older, 2wd Ford 3910 narrow can be found reasonably priced and will be a good fit but I am not sure if anyone built a loader for the narrow version. I know the narrow TN's can have loaders now as well as the John Deere 5000N series but these units will cost you more then you want to spend most likely.

 

[theedudenator]

How many acres are you working with.

I am only planning on 2 acres, this really doesn't seem like much.

And it will probably take me years to have it all planted anyway.

This is for personal use only.... do I really need to dump all these chemicals on my plants?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I currently have 10 acres of vineyard and 3 acres of orchard.

You do not need to do anything but your crops will be vulnerable and if you do not deal with the problems when they arrise you will not have much of a crop anyway. And you do not need to use the same sprays I use, there are organic sprays you can use to control problems but you still need the same type of sprayer.

And 2 acres is going to be a lot of work still regardless if it is all orchard, all vineyard or split 50/50.

 

[firefighter9208]

How many acres are you working with.

I am only planning on 2 acres, this really doesn't seem like much.

And it will probably take me years to have it all planted anyway.

This is for personal use only.... do I really need to dump all these chemicals on my plants?

I'll jump in here. I work a full time public job, but like to grow pumpkins on the farm in my extra time.

People ask me all the time. How do you keep them from rotting. I planted some in my garden and they rotted. Or the vines just died.

Well, the answer is chemicals. Mostly restricted use chemicals. When farming you have to get the maximum yield from an acre. Sure you can grow grapes, pumpkins, watermelons, etc... w/o the use of chemicals, but to get maximum yield you have to control pests and fungus.

This year we planted 1/4 of an acre. All rows were 100' long.
2 rows Atlantic Giants = 50 pumpkins
2 rows Big MAx = 100 pumpkins
4 rows Jack-O-Lanterns = 200 pumkins
2 rows Jack-B-Littles/Baby Boos = 800 pumpkins

It cost me more for fungicide and pesticides on this small patch than I had in seed and fertilizer. But I had very few pumpkins rot or get wormy.

A lot of people don't realize that you have to start spraying an orchard when the trees bud, they can't understand how that worm got in their apple or peach or pear.

Here are some pics of our pumpkins and one of our goats.

 

[LBrown59]

Looking for a Ford

Why does it have to be a Ford?
Or does it have to be a Ford?

 

[Soundguy]

Why does it have to be a Ford?

Cuz in 30ys he wants it to still be out in the field working.. instead of traveling the parade routes or pulling circuit like alot of green, red and yellow tractors do when they hit retirement age!

soundguy

 

[Gary Fowler]

Have we have really gotten to point of needing a 35-40 HP tractor to work a 4 acre parcel of land. My father worked 40 acres of row crop back in the 1950's with a used 8N and only upgraded to an 861 when he cleared another 20 acres of land. Had no problems covering all of it with disc harrow, row up, planting and cultivation. He also put out his own pesticide with a trailer mount rig.
I also dont have any experience with a vineyard, but come on 100 gallons of water per acre for coverage. What are we doing here spraying or irrigating. 90% of that will end up on the ground. Airplane spraying of cotton crops will wet every leave and only use 3 gallons per acre and that is nearly solid leaves where as you will have at least 6 feet between rows on your vineyard. With proper spray nozzles he should be able to spray his personal 2 acre vineyard with at most 30 gallons of water. A 20 HP tractor of any brand would be more than ample for his needs. A slip bucket for the 3 PH would carry all the rocks to his barn that he would need for a $450 investment at most. My BIL recently bought a nice little 750 JD diesel for $4000 which would be more than adequate for this application. He mows his 30 acre pasture and digs lots of post holes with it too.

 

[Soundguy]

I think some of the size options were listed due to pto requirements.. etc..

soundguy

 

[Egon]

Cuz in 30ys he wants it to still be out in the field working..

Really?? was there only one dependable tractor made??

Is this a statement from real experience on real working farms where the farm pays all the bills??

Sound guy, you have to expand your horizons.

I think my car is the best one made and all the others are junk!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Have we have really gotten to point of needing a 35-40 HP tractor to work a 4 acre parcel of land. My father worked 40 acres of row crop back in the 1950's with a used 8N and only upgraded to an 861 when he cleared another 20 acres of land. Had no problems covering all of it with disc harrow, row up, planting and cultivation. He also put out his own pesticide with a trailer mount rig.
I also dont have any experience with a vineyard, but come on 100 gallons of water per acre for coverage. What are we doing here spraying or irrigating. 90% of that will end up on the ground. Airplane spraying of cotton crops will wet every leave and only use 3 gallons per acre and that is nearly solid leaves where as you will have at least 6 feet between rows on your vineyard. With proper spray nozzles he should be able to spray his personal 2 acre vineyard with at most 30 gallons of water. A 20 HP tractor of any brand would be more than ample for his needs. A slip bucket for the 3 PH would carry all the rocks to his barn that he would need for a $450 investment at most. My BIL recently bought a nice little 750 JD diesel for $4000 which would be more than adequate for this application. He mows his 30 acre pasture and digs lots of post holes with it too.

I do have experience with vineyards and orchards and I also have experience with chemicals used on vineyards and orchards. If you read any of the labels on these sprays you will see the manufacturer requires a certain gallon per acre for each crop. Early in the season you can get by with 50 gallons of water per acre but later in the season you need more. You are not running a simple roller pump. These sprayers are putting out around 200 psi and running the agitator as well as the blowers. Spraying vines or trees is nothing like spraying cotton. When spraying vineyards and orchards you are spraying volume not surface area. You need you sprays to penetrate the canopy and depending on the trees that canopy may be 20 feet in the air. All the spray people as well as all the researchers for Cornell and Penn State here agree and have done a lot of studies on this. You don't need as much air as some people think but you need 100 gallons per acre after the leaves come out to get good coverage on the target.

I as well as every other grower would love to only have to use 30 gallons per acre but we know from "experience" that it will not cover as well and when you don't get proper coverage in the canopy you are wasting your time and money as you will not fully control the problem.

I am curious though, what sprayer and what type of nozzles would you recommend for him to spray his vineyard and orchard with? And remember, when the vineyard grows the vines grow into the row center closing the row considerably. My rows are 8' on center and right now I can't fit a 60" tractor down them without hitting a lot of the vines.