Sprayer Advice

15 years ago

I have been using an ortho dial a spray hose end sprayer to spray my apple and stone fruit trees (primarily for OFM and coddling moth). The product is this one:

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?bodyCssClass=scotts+blade+product+general+en&tabs=general&navAction=push&bodyId=product_general&proId=prod70022&itemId=cat50094&id=cat50008

The spray comes out pretty "thick/heavy" like a hose and much of it goes right through its intended target.

Seems it would be much more efficient if it came out more as a mist or fine spray.

I guess my question is should I be using a different type of sprayer and if so any recommendations?

My primary goal is to get edible fruit with as little use of pesticide/fungicide as possible. I have a total of 15 trees.

Thanks

Comments (3)

Scott F Smith
15 years ago
Those hose sprayers are no good. Get a Solo backpack sprayer and you will get the misting you want and will be able to spray all your trees in one fill. If the trees are tall get an extension wand to reach the tops.

Scott
kniles38
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Scott.

Is the difference between the Solo backpack and the Solo handheld just capacity/convenience or are there other features I would get with the backpack that I would not get with a handheld?
Related Discussions
Need Advice on Rose Sprayers
Q
Comments (7)
I will admit to being a cheapskate where sprayers are concerned. I have used the Walmart hand held ones, the $8 pump ones and the 4 qt. pump ones. The hand held ones dont last long - after a while, nothing comes out. Or you use 3/4 of the solution, and the stuff wont come out. [Just bought what a friend recommended the other day, $3, and same darn thing happened] Seems with the pump sprayers, same thing will happen. They start sputtering, not good flow then kaput. I bought a new 4 qt. one - was using it this afternoon - finally got it to working pretty good - it puts out a fine mist that does cover the leaves but it is slow going and I have to pump it up frequently. I am acquiring more roses and am getting fed up with getting ready to spray and end up spending more time hassling with the sprayer than putting spray on the roses, and thought I would see what works for others. I dont want to spend $400 on a fancy sprayer.....surely there is a medium priced one that hobby growers like myself can use. I dont mind filling it up frequently so dont need a huge one. Just want one that works consistently. Judith
...See More
Recommendation for an Electric Sprayer???
Q
Comments (13)
Okay, gang, for those who are interested... here's the upshot on how the modifications on the Mantis Sprayer worked this weekend. First off, RJ corrected what I previously wrote - it was a motorcycle battery (not a bicycle battery) that he put on the Mantis. It is a Yuasa battery sold by Honda as # YTZ14S, their heaviest duty motorcycle battery. It worked FANTASTIC!!!! Instead of taking 2 1/2 to 3 hours to spray the garden, I was finished in less than 1 and 1/2 hours (including mixing, cleaning up and putting away stuff). The only possible downside is that it sprays so vigorously that I needed to use an extra 3 gallons of spray mixture. So I had to go back and mix up another 3 gallons. But I got great coverage, and it still brought me in at 1 hour & a half including the remixing and reloading. The new hose was also a joy. I could walk 4 times as far with the expandable capacity, without dragging around an overly long hose. And when I store it, I don't have to wrap and wrap and wrap the hose around the handle. It collapses down to a nice neat circle on top of the sprayer. This has really made my week - heck, it's made my season to have a sprayer that works so effectively. RJ has earned a really big hug!
...See More
Anyone ever used a paint sprayer? Tips or advice?
Q
Comments (5)
Using a sprayer isn't going the eliminate the problem of the obstacles. If anything, it makes it harder. You need to tape and dropcloth off anything you don't want overspray to cover, even with a HVLP. HVLP doesn't eliminate overspray, it just minimizes it. Using a brush or roller will let you target your need to be painted spots a lot more accurately. WHere a sprayer will work great is for large same color expanses like walls, but even there, you will still have to tape off the trim. You can use a spray shield instead of taping, but you need enough experience to be able to maneuver that with one hand and the gun with another. It's not for a novice. It takes practice to get right and starting with a hard job isn't the way to gain confidence and control. From your description of the job, I don't think that a sprayer will help you make this an easier job in any significant way. 90% of painting is always the prep, and only 10% is the actual application of paint. Speeding up that 10% by adding another hour or two to prep doesn't leave you with any gain. All it does is leave you with a less quality job (sorry) if you've got an inexperienced person operating the sprayer for a difficult job. If you think you have enough paint jobs in your future to benefit from a sprayer purchase, then purchase one and start on easier jobs first to gain experience. However, most homeowners that I know who've purchased their own sprayers use them for a single job and then never touch them again. The "hassle factor" is high with a sprayer and it's just easier to use a brush and roller, even if it's less "cool".
...See More
quick! -- installation advice - faucet, sprayer, water dispenser
Q
Comments (2)
Well we polled some foodies at our offices and folks appear to be squarely in my court. The main faucet will be centered at the rear of the sink, sprayer to the right, and water dispenser to the far right. So everything will be skewed to the right of center, but as right handed people, that will be the most functional, we think.
...See More
denninmi
15 years ago
OK, I'm going to totally disagree with Scott. I have over 50 fruit trees of various kinds, as well as a dozen grape vines, 17 blueberry bushes, currents, gooseberries, kiwis, raspberries, blackberries, etc.

Over the years, I've had MANY kinds of sprayers, various smaller tank kinds, including one on wheels, a Solo backpack sprayer, and a large, 50 gallon capacity gasoline powered sprayer with a trailer hitch to tow behind my lawnmower.

Guess what, they're all a pain in the rear! Small tank sprayers are too small, heavy to lug, and have to be refilled many times to do all of the plants. The backpack sprayer is great if you're young, strong, and muscular, but it too doesn't have much capacity. The tow-behind one is big, noisy, takes a lot of maintenance, and the hose is perpetually tangled in the wheels, no matter how carefully you try to wind it every time you move the thing from tree to tree.

I chucked the whole mess a few years back in favor of a little hose-end sprayer with a dial to adjust the application rates. I bought a couple of rolls of one inch black PVC water line, fittings, etc., and ran spiggots near all of my fruit and orchard areas in the yard. Then, I put hoses out there with quick-connects on the end. I now move quickly and effortlessly between areas and from tree to tree, carrying only my little one quart sized sprayer (which can make up to 64 gallons of spray from one fill of the jar, depending upon application rates of the chemical). The only other chore involved is winding and unwinding the hoses. I put in 15 spiggots in total, so the longest hose I need to have in any one spot is 100 feet, and most are only 50 feet. One of the best parts of this is the fact that it's totally silent, other then the sound of the spray coming out, so I can do it early in the morning when the wind is calm, something I certainly couldn't do with a gasoline powered sprayer towed behind a lawn tractor -- neighbors in my suburban area wouldn't appreciate that at six o'clock on a Sunday morning.

I just sprayed yesterday -- did all of my trees in under an hour, and about half of that was spent fixing some hoses that had holes in them or bad fittings (I used about 8 hose menders!).

And yes, there probably is one disadvantage in that the droplet size isn't nearly as fine as my tank sprayers can produce, so it does take more spray to compensate.

I haven't missed my tank sprayers at all -- they're sitting the shed unwanted and unloved. I do actually use the smaller sprayers for Roundup, since they do give more control than a hose-end sprayer. Haven't used the big, gasoline tow behind sprayer for several years.

As far as the brand, I prefer the 'Hudson Valley' hose-end sprayer with adjustable application-rate dial, because it has three spray patterns -- jet, shower, and fan. The Ortho sprayer only has one spray pattern, sort of half way between the shower and fan patterns, so it's not as versatile.

Dennis

Sprayer Advice

Comments (3)

Scott F Smith

kniles38
Original Author

Related Discussions

denninmi

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Sprayer Advice

Comments (3)

Scott F Smith

kniles38Original Author

Related Discussions

denninmi

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

kniles38
Original Author