Herbicide Sprayer Question

[30pointer]

I am looking at getting a boomless ATV sprayer and rigging it up to the back of my pickup. Will a boomless nozel give me sufficiant coverage for spraying approximatly 4 acres per year of Corn/Soy Beans etc. My guess is that the boomless sprayers would throw bigger droplets and reduce the chance of hitting all plants with the necesarry herbicide but it would be quicker and require fewer passes with the truck. Also, can I hook the ATV sprayer directly up to my truck battery?

[sagittarius]

My guess is that the boomless sprayers would throw bigger droplets and reduce the chance of hitting all plants with the necesarry herbicide but it would be quicker and require fewer passes with the truck. Correct.
Also, can I hook the ATV sprayer directly up to my truck battery?You could, but it would be better to have a simple on/off switch wired in the cab.

[Taxidermist]

30 pointer welcome to the site. Are you always going to use the truck for spraying or do you plan to get a atv or tractor? If you are going to use the truck I would but a larger tank a 12v pump and make a spray boom so you can do a larger swipe and less time running to refill.



Rob

[nyls]

30pointer

The Fimco boomless sprayer that I bought this past year works great. I bought an ATV sprayer but attached it to a 3 point hitch assembly with two pins--you could do something similar with your pickup truck.

It will easily spray a 30' wide pattern for you and minimize the number of passes. I did not notice any problem with coverage. You will need to do some practicing and calculating to get your application rates down. I use a tractor with a hand throttle and determined my ground speeds for various gear / rpm combinations. You can use your speedometer but it will be trickier.

It comes with an inline switch and battery clamps but you will probably need to extend those somewhat to reach your truck battery--you will definitely want a switch inside the cab to control the unit. Mine draws around 11 amps.

Good luck,
Dave
NY Southern Tier
NW Stueben County

[30pointer]

Using a tractor is another option for me. I don't plan to get an ATV. I was thinking the truck would be easier but if it is not difficult to rig the ATV sprayer up to the 3-point hitch I may go that route. Controlling a consistent ground speed would probably be easier with the tractor.

[farmlegend]

Having used sprayers with both booms and boomless nozzles, I believe boomless is the way to go. Here's a shot of some yayhoo killing off a clover plot in Lenawee County with two boomless nozzles, spraying a 30-32 foot band, powered by a 5.0 gpm pump.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/539/medium/Spray080605a.jpg

[nyls]

As stated, I use mine on my tractor but I did want the flexibility of ATV use, also, in case that proved worthwhile in the future.

I bought the Fimco boomless ATV sprayer from TSC:
http://www.fimcoindustries.com/lg3025.htm

I also purchased a 3 pt hitch carry all from TSC:
http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp?pcID=4&paID=1029&sonID=79&productID=1328

Then I mounted the sprayer to a couple of lengths of pipe similar to portions of an ATV rack. I drilled the pipe and can attach / detach the sprayer from the carry all with two hitch pins. The carry all is a versatile unit that can be used for many other tasks.

Electrically I made up a harness at my rear tractor light to plug the unit into. That way I can turn the sprayer on and off from a switch on the tractor console. Believe me, you want an easy and accurate way to be able to control power to the sprayer.

I know that I could have gotten out of this a little cheaper some other way but my feeling was that spraying is a big part of food plotting and I did not want it to be a difficult process every time. There are three of us to split the costs so that helps a lot.

Here's a photo of the rig ready to work (my first attempt at posting a pic and not the best result):
http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/users/43ad396az1d7d9415/7110/__tn_/6946re2.jpg?phIWUrDB.W9ruFIh

Have fun,
Dave