Skid steer sprayer for prickly pear

[connaway]

I'm in the early stages of thinking about/ designing a skid steer sprayer to be used for spot spraying prickly pear. I do a lot of both spot spraying by hand and broadcast spraying on my ranch but I have a lot of cactus that are thicker than what I can do by hand but not thick enough that broadcast spraying would be wasteful. Some of my ideas on the sprayer are:
1. Between 25 and 50 gallon
2. Electric pump (12 v) with in cab control switch
3. Front bar that would push/damage the cactus before the spray hits them (this greatly improves the effectiveness of the spray)
4. Recirculation back pressure valve
5. 2 or 3 spray nozzles with manual valves allowing spray width to be selected

I normally spray prickly pear with Surmount or the generic equivalent. I have a Kubota SVL-75-2 although this idea would work on almost any skid steer.

Any ideas or thoughts on if this would work well or be practical?

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm in middle Tennessee and don't know anything about cactus, but I've sprayed a lot of kudzu with a couple of different handheld wands and with a rear mount sprayer arm working from a PTO pump. In some respects, the rear sprayer arm is more efficient because it is a finer spray that covers all the leaves and tends to kill kudzu more effectively than the coarser spray from the handheld wands.

The wands themselves basically allow for a wider spray vs a more concentrated spray, but neither is as fine as the rear sprayer arm. This is similar to one of my wands. Valley Industries SuperJet Trigger Spray Gun 22in., 8 GPM, 800 PSI, Model# 1700-02-022 | Northern Tool

With the price of herbicide going up, I can see the point in trying to make the more efficient use of it even if it means paying more up front to fabricate a spraying rigs specific to your needs.

I've never used an electric sprayer. The issue I've read about is battery drain. I don't suppose there are other cost effective options with the skid steer not having a PTO for a spray pump like a tractor?

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Prickly pear has a lot of uses. You have a skid steer and I would imagine a bucket too.

My dad is pro spray it. We have a big beautiful pond of 5 acres. Stream fed, spillway pipe flows year round, even in drought. My brother and I could go gig a mess of huge bull frogs. Not anymore. Spraying fence rows and a pasture or two stopped that. I Don't eat the frogs, but many in the family did. Then he says it ain't hurt nothing. It says right on the label kills amphibians, frogs are amphibians, frogs are gone. Plus my mother fishes daily, so chemical in the water, fish come from the water... Then he uses an open station tractor, crap blowing back all on him. Hospital time, liver and kidney problems. Bought a cab tractor and magically healed. But it wasn't, could not be, the chemicals blowing back on him in that open tractor, previously. Because he is going to buy them chemicals and he's gonna spray.

The liberal county government, when it comes down to buying that diesel fuel, they have tended to go chemical. Have a big truck with a tank, spray head on front right. They spray the ditch banks now, no tractor cutting. Kills trees and all itit touches. Plus it runs down the hills and gets in the creeks and streams. Ends up in the ponds. But we saved on diesel fuel...

 

[Tinhack]

Watch for Rattlesnakes when you're around cactus!!! They're after the rats and mice that like to burrow under the cactus.

 

[2manyrocks]

This article advocates a coarse spray. https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/...s-how-to-control-pricklypear-and-other-cacti/

If seated inside a Kubota SVL-75-2, the handheld wand option I guess would not be practical.

Forgot to say that I wear a respirator designed for fluid spray.

 

[connaway]

Thanks for the input. I've basically followed the Brushbusters method up to this point. I just need to increase the efficiency over hand spraying.

 

[jyoutz]

I'm in the early stages of thinking about/ designing a skid steer sprayer to be used for spot spraying prickly pear. I do a lot of both spot spraying by hand and broadcast spraying on my ranch but I have a lot of cactus that are thicker than what I can do by hand but not thick enough that broadcast spraying would be wasteful. Some of my ideas on the sprayer are:
1. Between 25 and 50 gallon
2. Electric pump (12 v) with in cab control switch
3. Front bar that would push/damage the cactus before the spray hits them (this greatly improves the effectiveness of the spray)
4. Recirculation back pressure valve
5. 2 or 3 spray nozzles with manual valves allowing spray width to be selected

I normally spray prickly pear with Surmount or the generic equivalent. I have a Kubota SVL-75-2 although this idea would work on almost any skid steer.

Any ideas or thoughts on if this would work well or be practical?

I used a 25 gallon electric sprayer mounted on 3ph with hand wand. Herbicide used was Surmount, with purple dye and a tackifier. Didn’t do anything to scar the prickly pear before spraying. I sprayed early summer and by August, every cactus on twenty acres was dead. The hand wand allowed me to target the cactus and not surrounding vegetation.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I used a 25 gallon electric sprayer mounted on 3ph with hand wand. Herbicide used was Surmount, with purple dye and a tackifier. Didn’t do anything to scar the prickly pear before spraying. I sprayed early summer and by August, every cactus on twenty acres was dead. The hand wand allowed me to target the cactus and not surrounding vegetation.

Where did you get the Surmount ? Need to get rid of some cacti here.

 

[jyoutz]

Where did you get the Surmount ? Need to get rid of some cacti here.

You need a pesticide applicators license to buy that product. Mine expired, but I still have some that you can have.

 

[connaway]

I've started using the generic Surmount (Triumph XTR). Its a little cheaper and seems to work just as well. Still requires a license though.