What is a good sprayer for an L4600 or B2601?

[Sid Post]

I'm looking for a good sprayer that has a reasonable price and reasonable coverage rate for pastures. I am out of my element once you get past a backpack sprayer.

I'm seeing a lot of ~40-gallon tanks and ~2.2GPM pumps for ~$350 with 10' booms and 4 nozzles. I have no idea of ground speed for this size boom and application rate but, I need to get a reasonable coverage rate beyond a simple homeowner or weekend warrior farmer/rancher looking for a food plot and simple fence line weed control.

Immediately I have 40 acres that are my primary focus. The Ag Extension agent is saying I need to spray it at least twice next year. With a 15 gallon/acre application rate I could see a 40-gallon tank being acceptable but, is the pump volume appropriate for reasonable ground speed?

What sort of brands and price range am I looking at for a good sprayer that is reasonable for rough pastures? I have more land than this so, while my initial focus is on this pasture, I need to think beyond the immediate need. I'm thinking I will want to use this with my L4600 so, a larger tank and wider boom seem to be pretty important though, a B2601 would probably be a good match for a 40-gallon 10-foot wide model.

Where are the general price breaks as you move up in size or features?

TIA,
Sid

 

[UpNorthMI]

I'm looking for a good sprayer that has a reasonable price and reasonable coverage rate for pastures. I am out of my element once you get past a backpack sprayer.

I'm seeing a lot of ~40-gallon tanks and ~2.2GPM pumps for ~$350 with 10' booms and 4 nozzles. I have no idea of ground speed for this size boom and application rate but, I need to get a reasonable coverage rate beyond a simple homeowner or weekend warrior farmer/rancher looking for a food plot and simple fence line weed control.

Immediately I have 40 acres that are my primary focus. The Ag Extension agent is saying I need to spray it at least twice next year. With a 15 gallon/acre application rate I could see a 40-gallon tank being acceptable but, is the pump volume appropriate for reasonable ground speed?

What sort of brands and price range am I looking at for a good sprayer that is reasonable for rough pastures? I have more land than this so, while my initial focus is on this pasture, I need to think beyond the immediate need. I'm thinking I will want to use this with my L4600 so, a larger tank and wider boom seem to be pretty important though, a B2601 would probably be a good match for a 40-gallon 10-foot wide model.

Where are the general price breaks as you move up in size or features?

TIA,
Sid

Sid,

There are a lot of cheap sprayers on the market with all sorts of mixed reviews. Lot's of issues with PTO pumps due to materials and what you are spraying, also care and maintenance is a big issue. If you want to step up to the next step I would recommend Demco sprayers, take a look at their RM series Rear PTO 150 Gallon units, they are not cheap. They also have a range of ATV / UTV pro sprayers, I have a 60 Gallon skid model with a 10' boom that I use from the back of my UTV.

If you don't like the prices you will understand why there is a huge market for $350 sprayers that people repair or replace every couple of years. If you take care of it you may get one to last much longer.

Good luck in your search.

 

[wendol]

Just a few observations based on my experience. I have 12 acres, L3800 Kubota, and 2 sprayer set ups.

First unit is a 200 gal. 2 wheel type trailer, folding 18' boom, with pto pump.
Advantages
Covers a lot of ground when spraying
Doesn't require constant fill-ups due to tank size
Excellent dependability
*Booms can be folded upright to spray narrow openings....provided there's enough overhead space to accommodate the upright booms

Disadvantages
Narrow openings (spacing of trees, etc) makes it impossible to get 100% coverage (See *above)
Storage space due to width or height of booms

Second unit is a 50 gallon 3 point set up, 40" fixed boom (2 spray nozzles) with pto pump
Advantages
Easy hook up (have it stored on a home made dolly)
Easy to maneuver (can easily back into small spaces/corners)
Excellent dependability
Easy to store

Disadvantages
Requires more seat time to due to the 40" boom (approx 7' coverage)
Spraying larger areas requires multiple fill-ups

It helps to purchase from a local dealer for support when it comes to selection of sprayer nozzles (requiring calculations of ground speed, pump pressure, nozzle type/size, etc)

FWIW, I would not consider a 12V pump for anything more than a small spray rig (10-15 gal) to spray fence rows, etc.

You might want to read up on the advantages between boom sprayers, and using a boomless nozzle.

 

[Sid Post]

THANKS!

 

[eiresurg]

I have a 60 gallon Fimco sprayer with a Delavan stainless steel PTO roller pump (purchased the pump separately). Had a heck of a time with it, initially (My prior post). But, now it runs like a charm after upsizing some of the tubing. I maintain about 40 acres of pasture and 30 acres of hay field with it. Kind of small for the application, but the pasture has quite a few trees, so I needed the smaller boom to easily navigate. The Noble Research Institute has an nice app for helping calibrate the sprayer for specific applications.

 

[Palmettokat]

I would like to recommend you do this the way wish I had. Begin say at this web site. teejet.com
You know what size area you have to spray and how many gallons per acre you need to use (I normally use 20 gallons myself for most spraying. You will find some chemical need even more per acre and some are fine with even 10 gallons per acre) so look at the nozzles and begin there. Many nozzles are set up on 20 inch spacing but some are different. You need to have idea what speed you can easy drive across your pastures. To me 5 mph is a good speed. For the size tractors you have 7 mph best be very smooth land. Larger tractor bigger tires 7 would be very reasonable. You determine from the nozzles the gallons per minute (gpm) you need a pump to supply and want at least a 20% margin between what the pump capacity is and what your sprayer need. You have to take into consideration pressure you will also be using.
You are still not to the pump capacity you need. You must have a recycling line or agitation line and also a pressure relief line. The agitation line is to mix and keep the chemicals mixed while spraying. Will admit the bigger the tank the bigger this line and gpm is needed here. It needs to be really pumping a good flow for if you ever used say a wetable powder they will settle out in a hurry compared to say roundup. The pressure relief hose is to allow the pump to keep running and pressure where it should be when the nozzles are off and you are mixing the solution or for turning around with nozzles off.

On the pump you need to know the chemical you will be using. Roundup is hard on some materials. One thing I did and strongly recommend is use Banjo hose connections for quick connect for the pump to the sprayer. Use male on one port and female on matching hose and the other port reverse it so you don't confuse which hose goes where. Then when you are through spraying remove the pump and wash it out and set to dry if that suits you. I used a 5 gallon bucket of used oil and dropped my pumps into that. Made a big difference in the life of my pumps.

You said 15 gallons per acre and a 40 gallon tank. That will not cover 3 acres. That means ever 2 1/2 acres roughly you are back to water and adding and mixing chemicals. That will be old before first time over the pasture. Water at 8 pounds a gallon and the weight of the sprayer consider what your tractor will handle safely. I used a 500 gallon trailer sprayer any time I was even spraying a 10 acre field. Filling and mixing and running back and forth takes a lot of time over taking the time to fill with water and chemicals and mixing once.

I would suggest you buy all the tank and booms your tractor can handle safely of course with water weight added if your pastures are open. Some people like the boomless set up and some use boomless nozzles on the end of the booms for more width. I have never used boomless nozzles but have wondered how uniform they are and how hard it is to get their over lap correct. Have a friend who uses them and seems to have good results.

Spend some time looking for used sprayers. Most of a sprayer does not wear out. Hoses, fittings and pumps yes but the metal and tank will last years if taken care off. Of, be safe. Some chemicals will kill quickly. A tank to wash your hands or face if need be of clean water is good to have on sprayer or tractor. You will get chemicals on yourself the best you do.