Sprayer for bed of 825i Gator

[roughinmill]

I would like to use my new Gator to spray my yard as well as around the farm, does anyone have one they already use? I would like 40 or 45 gal instead of 25 gal so I won't have to refill it to do around the house. I thought the one from John Deere was pricey :Nnd: but after shopping around it may be the right price range :Ysnd: it is commercial grade and I would love the easy on easy off boom. I once seen an option for a 150" 5 tip boom :Thmup: but have had no luck with finding one online, any suggestions? When I last saw my dealer he seemed unsure if he could get one. :Wlys:

[BrodyJ29]

I have the 90 gallon with the standard boom. It is actually very nice. We have been using it a lot. Works very well and very nice setup easy to put in the bed and take out. I would recommend over anything we looked at. Hope that helps

[lager1829]

Made in PA Dutch Country: http://www.cropcareequipment.com/lawn_sprayers/atx-sprayers.php

[roughinmill]

I have the 90 gallon with the standard boom. It is actually very nice. We have been using it a lot. Works very well and very nice setup easy to put in the bed and take out. I would recommend over anything we looked at. Hope that helps

90 gal would let me cover some I now use my 300 gal 3-point hitch sprayer for. If you dont mind how much did you have to give for it? :Wlys:

[roughinmill]

Made in PA Dutch Country: http://www.cropcareequipment.com/lawn_sprayers/atx-sprayers.php

Thanks for the web site, lots of good stuff there I have been looking for a foam marker and thats the best price I've seen. :BG: :Wlys: :BG: Thanks again!

[Farmer]

You may want to google "boominator", it is a single nozzle. I have one that goes to 15' and it works great. Most of my spraying is to one side. If I wanted to broadcast, would get two of them.

[roughinmill]

You may want to google "boominator", it is a single nozzle. I have one that goes to 15' and it works great. Most of my spraying is to one side. If I wanted to broadcast, would get two of them.

Thanks Farmer, but when I spray it will be my yard and I have many flowers and small trees I need to spray around. :OhNoes: I would love a boom 8' to 10' that would spray straight down because I would love to run a Foam Marker so I know exactly where I am spraying and to save chemicals. :BG: Thanks for the info. :cool: :Wlys: :BG:

[lesgarneau]

I formerly had been involved with a County Weed Program for 5 years, 4 of which we had used the 620i, 625i, and 825i Gators for spraying pasture areas for noxious weeds. we put approximately 250 hours a summer on each unit and generally ran 10 hour days. I now am involved with an oilfield company to commercially spray oil sites with ground sterilants using the new 825i XUV Gators. The Gators were implemented about 5 years ago after using Kawasaki Brute 650 four wheelers to spray herbicides in pastures. The four wheelers were extremely dangerous to use as a way to spray in pastures that had side hills and steep grades in coulees ("cool-ees"..ie deep draws). With the addition of a 25 gallon water tank to a 4 wheeler the center of gravity was extremely high. the units had to be ridden down steep terrain and backed in reverse up steep terrain to avoid rolling over backward. They would roll over with moderate side inclines. Several employees were injured from tip overs and rollovers. The side by side Gator ended all that risk and greatly increased the mobility in the rough terrains.
** We outfitted the Gators with 50 gallon tanks at the very front of box on skid sprayers. 100 gallon tanks can be used if only spraying on level or "nearly" level lands. The best pumps to use are "Flojet" On-Demand Pumps - 4.9 GPM, 12 Volt, 3/4in., Model# 04300143A. These pumps can be altered with different pressure switches available from Flojet and the system can also be built with a pressure regulator so the pump can run 100% duty cycle and not rely on the electric pressure regulation. If using dry powder chemicals that are mixed into water it is best to use a gas engine driven pump system. Despite thorough mixing, powders destroy the electric type pumps in just a couple days usage. The Flojet pumps are repairable and generally make 200 to 300 hours before needing a pressure switch, which has contacts that get hot and burn if the pump on/off cycling is extreme. if the pump only cycles when the operator switches the pump on and off as needed these pumps can run 500 hours without troubles. It is at certain water flow rates where the pumping pressures are right close to the 45 psi setting that the pump will be demanded to cycle on and off every half second and the pump will "pulse" on and off. This occurred with our setups when only 1 of the 2 Boominator Boom-less nozzles were energized as needed to spray either right or left only of the gators pathway. The switches to activate spraying were installed in the dash of the Gators in the extra rectangle switch mounting holes that John Deere so wisely thought of.
** A travel speed of 5 mph will work with flat lands, but 3 and 4 mph is more realistic with rough terrain.
** The aggressive tires that are typical or "standard" on the Gator might be a bit aggressive on nice turf and lawns. A replacement turf tread tire would be needed to not leave tread imprints in the soil, especially if it is operated on lands that have been irrigated/watered.
** The addition of a foam marking system to such small spray equipment would be unnecessary. If running booms, one could maybe use a drag marking method where maybe a small chain or cable is hung from the end of each boom to leave an imprint in the grass. All spray operations require a slight overlap to eliminate skips. The % of loss or "over-use" of herbicide is negligible. Consider practicing with water on concrete or asphalt to learn and observe the spray pattern and overlapping. To quickly and easily check the nozzles and spray pattern travel to an area with concrete or asphalt and do a test shot. Much can be learned by this. Also make a 90 or 180 degree turn on concrete and observe why herbicide should not be applied while cornering. The inside of the radius will get about a 5X concentration of spray and the outside about 1/5th concentration. (with about a 32 ft spray pattern)
** Always try to spray an area by traversing back and forth across the area, not by going around and around. Learn the distance of 2 spray swathes and leave that area at the "ends of the run" to do the turn around(s). When finished with the long runs back and forth, go back and spray the ends. Doing it in this sequence eliminates driving and turning around on the newly sprayed areas. The tires of any spray rig can pull and transfer herbicide on and off the intended spray or "target" area. It is not a serious concern with most applications. If the spray is given a small amount of time to dry on the leaves, this can be reversed and the ends of the runs can be sprayed first with 2 boom swathes and that width maybe marked in some manner so the operator can then accurately turn on and off the booms on the long runs to keep from "skipping" or producing "skips". Slight "over-lapping" or "overspraying" is always preferred to leaving skips!! TURN OFF THE BOOMS while cornering and turning the 180 degree turn-around(s)!! Never attempt to apply herbicide while cornering unless absolutely necessary. Try doing all the work in "squares" or rectangles. If spraying an area that has curved edges, either:
A. Straighten your travel line by doing the "over-lapping" or over-spraying on the first two passes and then work across the area with a fairly straight travel path.... or
B. Begin spraying down the center of the area with a straight path and work to the edges and finish the edges with some "over spraying".
** Spraying "round and round" an area and leaving the sprayer on in the corners is a VERY POOR method. Every corner made is now an inaccurate and poor application rate. If to desire a "round and round"...work to the center pattern, shut the booms off after just passing into the formerly sprayed area on each corner and make a 180 + 90 degree right hand turn around. So if to have been spraying North, the turn will take you East...South and finally West. Much like some people will do with riding lawn mowers when cutting large plots and not want to go back and cut the "half moon" shaped corners that are left from 90 degree corners.
** With all that said, the 50 gallon tank will take approximately 20 minutes to spray out if the boom "on time" is longer such as with spraying large areas. If patches of areas are being searched out as with spraying noxious weeds in pastures where it may be a minute to 2 or 3 minutes before finding another patch to be sprayed, a 50 gal tank can take an hour or more to spray out. With common flow rates (with booms or with boom-less nozzles) the 50 gallon mix will cover approximately 8 acres with the nozzles applying about 6 gallons of mix per acre.(3 acres each nozzle) Most large lawns are a half acre up to 2 acres. This Gator spray applicator is extremely over-sized to do this size of "target" area.
** Better suited for this area would be the tow behind sprayers that are intended to be pulled with a riding lawn mower. Yet to better that set up, if the booms are relocated to the front of a mower, much more can be seen and the application will be more accurate. (less skips and accidental boom collisions) The drawback to this is that the herbicide "mist" or "drift" can be a problem if the operator of the machine ends up in the path of the "drift" spray. Keeping the booms as low as possible, keeping the spray pressures as low as possible (and yet maintain a good nozzle pattern), and spraying with no breeze and only "calm" will reduce the unwanted drift. Herbicide drift is undesirable for several reasons:
1. herbicide contamination to personnel or animals.
2. herbicide contamination to "non target" areas that may contain ornamental plants or feed crops
3. the drift is a part of the "calculated" application rate, so if any drift leaves the target area it means there are areas of target area that do not have the full application rate (light or weak "shot")
4. drift could contact objects with finishes such as paint or stain that could be discolored by chemicals if the chemical is caustic or corrosive to that finish.

[lesgarneau]

To deal with "sensitive" vegetation and drift...i have found that using bed sheets to cover the vegetation during the spray operation provides that safest means of keeping from having a disaster. By disaster i mean: having a female that resides in the house with the flowers/garden/plants finding wilting plants a couple hours after the spray operation!! I found that hospitals are a good source for the large white sheets. Leaving the sheets over the plants for an hour after spraying is also a good idea. Write "UP" on each corner of the sheet so if the sheet is moved to other vegetation, the side with the possible drift spray is not placed down and make contact with the leaves of the plants. The sheets can be cleaned by laying them out on a slight incline and hosing them down. Slight amount of chemicals will be in the runoff water so use care where the water drains to.
REMEMBER: Dicamba or "Banvil" is one of the chemicals in many over the counter lawn sprays such as "Weed-Be-Gone". Check the label for the term Dicamba. It is a chemical that will fume and leave the plant leaf in high temperatures (above 85 F). This is referred to as "volatile". This fume or gas will travel or "DRIFT" with the slightest breeze and is extremely harmful to most broad leaf plants....gardens/flowers. This chemical Dicamba is banned as a tank mix in many cities by code due to this undesirable characteristic. The 2-4D chemicals are also slightly volatile also. The important point here is....DO NOT SPRAY when the forecasted temperatures for later in the day are going to reach 85 degrees F.
sincerely,
Les