Sprayer 3ph sprayers - need info

[Birdbrain]

Hello everyone,
I am in the market for a 55 gal sprayer. I have the classic problem of haing one big job to do now and then only the need of future maintenance afterwards. My project is planting a field (approx. 18 acres) in warm season grasses. I have to spray to kill the existing vegetation first. But after that, I will only have to do spot spraying for weeds and undesirable stuff.
So I am trying to balance the need for completing the first job without making a million trips, but not needing a huge sprayer in the future and while not spending a fortune.
My locally available options are a 40 gal FIMCO ($450) and a 60 gal ($778) from TSC or a Crop Care (Quoted at $1300) from a local dealer. Otherwise, it would be an order online option. I am inclined to a cheaper option for price alone, but might entertain a higher quality option for under 1000. So......opinions please.

Also, what are the pros/cons of the various kinds of pumps? Exactly how do they attach/work off the tractor. I am complete newbie for spraying, so trying to avoid a missing or incompatible piece that stops me in my tracks when I tackle the job. Tractor is a Kubota L3400.

Thanks,
Glen

 

[kennyd]

I would go with the 40 gallon unit and a PTO roller pump. The pump will set you back another 150$ or so, so for 600$ or less you would have a working setup.

The PTO pump just hangs on the PTO shaft with a chain to keep it from rotating.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hello everyone,
I am in the market for a 55 gal sprayer. I have the classic problem of haing one big job to do now and then only the need of future maintenance afterwards. My project is planting a field (approx. 18 acres) in warm season grasses. I have to spray to kill the existing vegetation first. But after that, I will only have to do spot spraying for weeds and undesirable stuff.
So I am trying to balance the need for completing the first job without making a million trips, but not needing a huge sprayer in the future and while not spending a fortune.
My locally available options are a 40 gal FIMCO ($450) and a 60 gal ($778) from TSC or a Crop Care (Quoted at $1300) from a local dealer. Otherwise, it would be an order online option. I am inclined to a cheaper option for price alone, but might entertain a higher quality option for under 1000. So......opinions please.

Also, what are the pros/cons of the various kinds of pumps? Exactly how do they attach/work off the tractor. I am complete newbie for spraying, so trying to avoid a missing or incompatible piece that stops me in my tracks when I tackle the job. Tractor is a Kubota L3400.

Thanks,
Glen

I have a 55 gallon Fimco on a 3 point mount with an 11 ft boom that I use regularly for pasture weed control. It's small enough to fit on my Ferguson TO-30 and the 6 roller pump runs off the PTO. The whole works cost about $500 about 5 years ago. If you are going to do a lot of spraying with glysophate(i.e. Round Up) you might want to get a special (read more expensive) roller pump that won't get eaten up by the acidic nature of those solutions. Otherwise a regular roller pump will do you and they are around $100 for a pump, torque reaction bar, and quick-coupler in a kit. The size of the tank dictate how often you'll have to "return to base" to refill. It also is determined to some extent by the tractor size. My TO-30 is a bit tippy at 55 gallons of mix(around over 500 lbs on the 3 pt) but that isn't a problem for your L3400. Most mixes are set up for 1-2 pts per acre and and the pump output and a tractor speed are maintained to deliver 10 gallons of mix per acre. So with a 40 gallon tank and the appropriate speed and flow, you can do 4 acres a load. With a 55 gallon tank you can do 5.5 acres per load.
Your $'s, your time, your choice. Hope this helps you.

p.s. Eliminating weeds from an old pasture is more then just a maintenance job after the first year. Think of the seed load in the ground all these years and some of these weed seeds are viable for 70 -100 years. You'll be at it for some time. If you jump on it hard for about three years , AND if your neighbors do the same, you'll make very rapid progress. If your neighbors don't , then figure you'll be after it for a long time. Don't ask how I know this!

 

[JimRB]

I found that spraying early in June gets rid of the bitterweed. I can go 2-3 years with spot spraying after. Horse like some of the weeds.

I have made the mistake of not removing the hoses on the pump and putting a few good squirts of engine oil in the pump. I spent too much time freeing up the pump stuck pump. Now I try to oil it after use. 10 minutes saves a few hours of frustration.

I got my 50 gallon boom sprayer for maybe $100 used. I used some JB Weld to repair the cracked filter housing 6 years ago. Another hint. Remove that filter housing and toss it in the tank after use. That way you do not trap water in the housing to freeze over the winter.

 

[lawn_king]

A pto roller pump is the way to go, hypro is about the best out there. If you dont want to spend big bucks on the sprayer, you could sub out the job to a lawn care company. We get a fair amount of feild service work? If a pro does the job all issues with the pesticide and insurence are covered.

 

[deere755]

I was just looking at 55 gal. sprayers today and a 6 roller pump. I can buy one at Rural King for $450 and the pump is around $165.

Have any of you had any luck calibrating one of them to get the rate of chemical you wanted. We just bid on some wild life plots and we have to also spray them as part of the bid. I want to be able to apply 10 gal of water per acre or real close to that. I was thinking of measuring of an area and seeing how much water I would use in that area and then adjusting one way or the other.

 

[lawn_king]

I was just looking at 55 gal. sprayers today and a 6 roller pump. I can buy one at Rural King for $450 and the pump is around $165.

Have any of you had any luck calibrating one of them to get the rate of chemical you wanted. We just bid on some wild life plots and we have to also spray them as part of the bid. I want to be able to apply 10 gal of water per acre or real close to that. I was thinking of measuring of an area and seeing how much water I would use in that area and then adjusting one way or the other.

You need to spend a few hours on asphalt, spraying water to get your calibration set. ground speed & pto speed are factors as well as the spray nozzles. Its well worth a few extra bucks for a pressure gauge.

 

[Mike120]

Just a quick calculation using typical volumes through a small sprayer indicates that you will use between 350- 400 gallons of water to spray 18 acres assuming a 10% overlap. That's a lot of trips. As Jerry/MT pointed out, weed control isn't a one-time effort.

 

[forester2]

Remember that calibrating your gallons per acre is based on several factors; travel speed ,volume put out per nozzle (based on pump and nozzle size), number of nozzles and total boom width. Use a manufacture's charts to select nozzle size(Spraying Systems for ex). Collect spray from one nozzle over a timed period and measure volume (example: one minute). Multipy by # of nozzles. You now know how much your boom puts out in a minute. Let's say it's 1 gallon total for all nozzles. You now know you need to spray an acre in 10 minutes to apply 10 gallons. Let's say your boom is 10'. An acre is 43,560 Sqft. So now you know you have to go 4356 feet in 10 minutes (43,560 divided by 10' boom width). I think that works out to around 5mph.

I'm not real wide awake this morning so I might have screwed up the math. If so, I apologize but I hope that gives you some idea. Not as tough as it sounds.

As for pumps; Centrifugal- low pressure high volume/ Roller- Medium p&v/ Piston- high pressure low volume (trees). Roller good all round choice however cent. is very low maintaince if it meet your requirements.

 

[deere755]

You need to spend a few hours on asphalt, spraying water to get your calibration set. ground speed & pto speed are factors as well as the spray nozzles. Its well worth a few extra bucks for a pressure gauge.

That is what I had in mind. The charts I was looking at yesterday was showing with the nozzels on the sprayer that at 40 psi at 5 mph would apply 10.1 gal per acre. I was thinking if I used plain water and measured off an area down a long grass lane we have to figure how many trips down the lane I would have to make to equal an acre and collect the water in a container. So if I was to cover one acre at 5 mph at 40psi and one nozzel put out 1.5 gal of water in an acre I would need to decrease pressure or increase ground speed.