Finally found a good sprayer (hose/fert attachment)

10 years ago

I had tried a couple of other brands, and was rather disappointed - to say the least. My first purchase was by far the worst one made... The MG version! What an unreliable piece-o-crap that thing was. If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend this brand. I tested it with my water pressure by filling a calibrated bucket. It puts out one gallon in exactly 21 seconds. Now for the best part, when I set it to 1 ounce - the level of the reservoir goes down by precisely 1 ounce in 21 seconds! It is set by the manufacturer to be accurate at a standard of 40-50 psi (I believe), so my water pressure must fall somewhere in that range. It's spot on though - when I set it for 2 ounces, sure enough the reservoir is down by 2 ounces in 21 seconds.

Mighty accurate for this piece of equipment, just thought I'd share - as y'all could reap the benefits from my previous blunders in the trials of products.
(It's preformed this well even with non-liquid style fertilizers, I just mix them well in the reservoir with warm water first)

...total cost 9.95 @ Wally World

Jay

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Comments (16)

scgreenthumb1987
10 years ago
Nice to know thanks. Does it work with liquid fertilizer ? Right now I'm swearing by mg liquifeed. But I agree all the mg sprayers are junk.
seysonn
10 years ago
good luck Jay! I have another brand. I think it is Ortho.

These units are for spraying like herbicide and pesticides, NORMALLY.

But if you want to use them as spray fertilizer, then the fertilizer should be in a concentrated liquid form.
I don't do spray fertigation. Once in a while I do foliar feeding on a small scale.
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I'm not sure what Gilmour intended them to be used for. I purchased mine to fertigate faster than I could with a watering can. They *are* faster than a watering can. They will certainly work if you want to foliar feed though you might want something that will give you more of a mist. These don't give a super-fine mist. I found that there are limited options for fertigation: 1) Hose-end sprayers. These are accurate but in order to get the accuracy they significantly reduce the flow with a restricted venturi tube or similar. This allows them to work accurately for most people. These take ~5x longer to water, they cost ~$10-$20. 2) Source siphon systems - these include things like Hozon (~$15-$30) and Mazzei(venturi tube) injectors (around $100 by the time you get a bypass system installed). The Hozon and etc are all at set rates of like 16:1 or sometimes 20:1. Those ratios are too small for my liking. I'd have to refill a 5 gallon bucket with solution too often during the summer. The Mazzei injectors might work better. I didn't try one yet. I don't see how they could give full flow and inject at the correct rate. If someone has experience with them please let me know! 3) "Proportional mixing" systems like the EZ-Flo fertilizer injector. These do not work. They do not mix at the advertised rates. ~$65 wasted. You can waste another $25 trying to get it to work. It still won't work. 4) Dosmatic/Dosatron/Mixrite style pump injectors. These will work as advertised. I bought a Dosmatic 1% yesterday. It's still on the way. The unit itself was ~$260 shipped. It will also require a bypass setup which is another ~$20 if you build it yourself. They also have wear parts that will need to be replace yearly (for ~$10). They will operate at full flow and have adjustable injection rates. They go as high as $500 for some units with more options and higher flow/pressure rates. I've basically tried all of these except the Mazzei style injectors and I'm landing on a dosmatic style system. By the time you try every other kind and find it lacking you've spent 3/4 the price of a dosmatic anyway. With a 500:1 injection rate (~1.5 tsp / gallon) I can water 2500 gallons from a 5 gallon bucket of concentrated solution. This is at full flow with perfect injection rates. It costs more and it makes a little pumping noise when you operate it but it will be worth it to me. Ask yourself this: how much is your time worth to you? If you use a hose-end sprayer you will spend 5x the time watering. If it takes you an hour a day to water instead of 20 minutes that's 243 hours a year. Even if you only have to water once a day for half the year that's 121 hours saved. 3 whole work weeks. This now sounds like a hard sell for a dosmatic but, shrug, I've tried everything else and got fed up. I'll make a video of my installation and show you the Ez-Flo that I had in there before.
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Okay, while no one was looking *smirk*, I did some quick research and found three types of products that might be good, I might get all three for different purposes. One is the Gilmour Air-o-matic hose end sprayer, adjustable dial for dilutions (16 different kinds, from one to ten tsp per gallon) and a hose sprayer squeeze handle at the end. I'm not sure how much it holds but it seems pretty good. Internet searches turn up with several different kinds ranging from 15-25 dollars. Then there are those generic spray air pumps you get at your local gardening or hardware store. And there are also "syphonex" applicators that go directly between the faucet and hose and apply the liquid to the water stream as it flows. Perhaps I might use the former for teas that can't come in contact with chlorinated water or smaller weeding applications, and the latter for larger applications like with fertilizer mixes. Feel free to add anything!
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Generally, fertilizing just to promote more rapid plant growth is not a great idea. Plants that are stimulated by chemical fertilizers into fast growth are typically less drought and cold tolerant and more prone to insect and disease issues. Plants take time to establish. That means several growing seasons in the ground before they start displaying a typical rate of growth. Usually it is just providing adequate water that facilitates proper establishment. In most cases, the nutrients the plants need for proper growth are already present in the soil, especially if the soil has been amended or improved at all. Supplementing with fertilizers is unnecessary - what you really need is patience :-) Granular applications are more efficient at delivering nutrients than broadcast spraying. If you use granular organic fertilizers, they do not need to be incorporated into the soil and they are also unlikely to leach into groundwater, as synthetic/chemical ferts are inclined to. Any plant-based mulch will work fine. Many folks favor woody mulches - bark, wood chips, etc. I prefer a compost type mulch, both for appearance and because it more readily offers a wider nutrient range. There is also no issue with nutrient tie up like you can encounter with wood mulches, should they get inadvertantly mixed into the soil. But it is also very fertile, so a good growing medium for weeds and it needs to be replaced more frequently.
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jutsFL
Original Author
10 years ago
SC - it's actually made for liquid concentrates. It actually has an adapter on the inside that will screw on to "standard" brimmed smaller bottles for the reservoir as well.

Seysonn- I don't actually spray the foliage with it, rather aim at the dirt and use it for regular style fert/watering sessions.

To my surprise it's working flawlessly with crystalline style ferts - I just mix them well w warm water first.

Jay
jutsFL
Original Author
10 years ago
SC - the yellow piece is the adapter I was speaking of, and it comes with a longer tube as well (for deeper bottles that may be attached)

Jay
technochimp89
10 years ago
Jay, thanks for the heads up. I've been wondering how I'm going to keep fertilizing all the peppers now they're outside. I was going to use a two gallon pump sprayer, but I think this would be a little more effective. Picking one up this weekend for sure.
judo_and_peppers
10 years ago
this is the same one I have. I bought it at lowes for slightly more money though, my walmart's garden section is very disappointing.

no complaints about it after 8 months of use.
seysonn
10 years ago
I think it is a versatile gadget if you want to do a lot of application (fertilizing, aiming at soil level). I like it. It is compact and the adapter is a bonus. Plus it has no parts to break. A simple design based on venturi principle. .
On small scale, I just use good ole 2 gallon watering can. I have about 300 Sq-ft garden area plus about 20 potted plants.
djoyofficial
10 years ago
Nice! Does anyone know of an option for those of us working with 90 psi secondary water?
jutsFL
Original Author
10 years ago
Good to hear that it'll last Judo, I'm only at a few weeks with mine - no hiccups yet either though.

...not sure with the high (90psi) water pressure djoy, it may handle it ... But the ratios would surely be off.
judo_and_peppers
10 years ago
can't you just turn the valve down at the hose connection to the house, to turn down the pressure a bit?
0x0is0
10 years ago
This is an old school fertilizer sprayer I use from Gilmour. Still works great.

I bought it at a Mom and Pop shop a long time ago. It came in a very retro looking retail box, no barcode, parts list with prices and diagrams on backside, and made in USA. (Say what?!?!)

Bottle feels like very good plastic, solid brass flute-like dilution head of various diameter holes, and it can spray like a cone or fan, and spray far.

I like it a lot.

This post was edited by 0x0is0 on Fri, May 16, 14 at 5:11
0x0is0
10 years ago
Picture #2
scott123456
10 years ago
jutsFL I too bought the crap MG one. Thanks to your recommendation I picked up one just like yours. My question is, are the settings measurements per gallon? It just says 1 tsp, 2 tsp, ect.. but nothing about how much water. I havenÃ¢ÂÂt used it yet, I just got home with it.

Thanks again,
Scott
technochimp89
10 years ago
Scott, I just picked on up yesterday and as far as I can tell, the dial is for how much content per gallon. It took me a little to get my math right, but I finally got the ratio of nutrients right and have the dial set to the total amount I would add to a gallon. (4 tsp in my case)

I tested this by filling a 1 gallon container with the sprayer and comparing it to what I would normally mix up. The color looks the same, so I guess it must be about right.
jutsFL
Original Author
10 years ago
Your assumptions are correct. The dilution rate is (setting)/gallon. So a setting of 2 ounces will put 2 ounces of your solution into every gallon sprayed.

So for me for instance (a random example).. Say I had 7 plants that I want to receive 1 gallon each of fert. MG states a dilution of 1tbs/gal. So I add 7 tbs of MG to the container and fill it with water till it's at the 7 ounce mark. Set it to 1ounce. (I have tested my water pressure and know that 1 gallon is sprayed in 21 seconds)... So now if I water my plants for 21 seconds I know they are getting 1 gallon of water with 1tbs of MG (in the correct dilution)... This thing has been a lifesaver in time.

Jay
jutsFL
Original Author
10 years ago
I know the above post was just a random example, but I thought I should add this: to get a better result from the sprayer in the above scenario, a wiser choice would be to dilute the same 7tbs of MG in 21 ounces of water.. Then set the sprayer to 3 ounces. It would give the same ratio per gallon to the plant and allow the fret to be better mixed in the reservoir.

Jay

Finally found a good sprayer (hose/fert attachment)

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Finally found a good sprayer (hose/fert attachment)

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