best sprayer recs

[gwithrow]

we go through many of the plastic sprayers every year and the one that was stainless and sturdier was not much better, so I thought I would ask here..this is my husband's territory, though he is not mechanical at all and has trouble even clearing the nozzles..however, we need something that will at least go several months, hopefully an entire season

I appreciate all suggestions...

[oneokie]

Sounds more like operator error than product defects.

[rambler]

Are you spraying fruit trees, or garden - which type of spraying?

And how many trees, or area of the garden, so we might get an idea of the scope if the problem.

And what are you mostly spraying, some products are quite corrosive, some are gritty, etc.

If you have a 100 by 100 garden and going through that many sprayers, yea you might be doing something wrong that could be improved.

If you have acres and acres, you might just need a more industrial sort of sprayer to handle the workload.

Paul

[Harry Chickpea]

What is failing? Using a strainer on the products going in, rinsing the funnel opening with the sprayer upside down, and keeping them out of freezing temps works for me. Have been thinking of adding a little 12 vt compressor and battery pack to skip the pumping.

[Bret]

I buy inexpensive ones in the two gallon size. I often take one in the pasture when I go for a walk to zap stuff. I take the time to rinse any grass and debris each time I top off and when I quit. My trick is to also squirt a drop of dish soad inside the pump to keep things from wearing out. I get four or more seasons out of them.

I bought one for home for carpet cleaning and left a vineger water solution in it. It destroyed all of the rubber parts and had to be trashed.

[gwithrow]

I had a chuckle here, indeed it is operator failure...he tries hard, very hard, but this lifestyle is just beyond his abilities....

we spot spray pastures a lot, all the time...to try to keep the crownbeard and buttercups under control...I do not want to overspray the entire area that we use for pasture since we have a lot of clover and other desirable 'weed's.....

we cut and spray the multiflora roses and blackberries that are cropping up here and there..mob grazing helps but the crownbeard has gotten out of hand in the last couple of years so spraying daily will gradually help us get a handle on it...

we are not spraying trees...just spotting weeds....a lot of them...

I did show him how to unscrew the tip of the sprayer and rinse it out...but I have truly never known anyone to be as un mechanical as he is...so I had hoped there might be a sprayer that was 'foolproof'....but I guess not...

[Bret]

I have had a sprayer that had a filter but the one I have now works OK without one.

Another trick I have learned is to fill the pump body with water while it is outside the tank, and give it a quick pump to force the water, chaff, etc. out of the pump before screwing it back into the tank.

PS--for the kid in me, I call pasture spot spraying "Strafing" as in low flying aircraft attacking.

[oneokie]

Some suggestions of things to try to prevent nozzle clogs.

Use a piece of cloth as a strainer when filling the tank with water. Old t shirts, shirts, sheets, panty hose.

Place an inline filter in the discharge hose to the wand. I have used and had good luck with inline gasoline filters like are used on cars. The clear/translucent plastic will work and you can see when they get full of trash.

When finished for the day, rinse the tank out and after rinsing, flush the hose/nozzle by placing appx. 1 cup of water in the sprayer and flush the hose/wand/nozzle.

You have not said what herbicides you are using, so am unable to offer additonal advice, but the above suggestions should prevent the majority of problems in the future.

[frankva]

Home Depot. In the paint dept $9. In the garden dept is a Roundup brand sprayer that is $5 more than it's neighbor. $20? Worth the 5. Yes it says roundup on it but it is just a heavier duty sprayer.

Bleed the air after using by spraying until air. Store where it won't freeze. All of them you will have better results if you grease the O rings. Vaseline will work fine. So run right out there and see if you grease up the beat one if it works. Clean water into the mix helps a lot. Plastic jug filled at the sink, then walked out to the tank to mix. Avoid the garden hose. Easy to pick up grit that way.

I've killed a few cheap ones so I know what you are feeling.

Should suit him. And you.

[jwal10]

Solo backpack. I have one that is 25 years old. Make sure and get the diaphram pump model, not the cheaper $99.00 one. A lot less pumping and it works for liquid or wetable powders....James

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...bber-_-Grounds Maintenance>Sprayers-_-32385

[rancher1913]

2nd the back packs, I use three-a 24d one--a roundup one--and a pesticide one. the pesticide one is battery operated and heavier to carry but I can concentrate on the spraying for safety sake. keep them clean and filter everything that goes in, I hate cleaning nozzles.

[bja105]

This time of year, 8 of us at work are using pump sprayers 4-6 times a day, every day cleaning air conditioning coils. We break plenty of them. Besides breaking wands and handles (which are replaceable) , something seems to break in the pump. It is not really broken though, and can be snapped back in place. This can be prevented by properly lubricating it with petroleum jelly, as per the directions.
Read the directions, lube it, and call the manufacturer for repair parts.

This is the one we use.
http://orders.sidharvey.com/product/R34/F1-37

[tinknal]

Happy to see this thread, I've also been wanting a quality sprayer. Guess I'll have to make a trip to Northern Equipment.