Three-point Sprayer

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I'm thinking of getting a 3-point sprayer for waterways, fencrows, clean up and so forth.  It will not be my main sprayer.  I am on 8 30" rows.  Maybe 20 or 30 feet booms woud be enough.  I have 100 hp tractors so imagine a 200 or 250 gallon tank would be enough.  Would want a hand boom.

I would probaby have it on and off a few times each season so would want it to mount and dismoutn easily.

would rather keep the cost down.  Would want to be able to hook it to my Ag Leader Integra GPS.

Any particular thoughts?

[idalivered]

Jim, a year ago I bought a new sprayer for just this purpose. I had always had an old walsh 3pt. for this and just wanted a new one that would hook to a quick coupler. I got a demco 200 gal. 3 pt. I ordered a new 40' boom, but others were optional. It folds twice, manually on each side and I have a little manual ball valve inline(at the 30' fold), so I can spray 30 or 40 feet.  I ordered it without the pump (i had one) and the plumbing from the pump to the manual controls and booms. boom plumbing came withit. If you are going to hook your integra, that and the gps would be on the tractor anyway, so just a matter of valves and flow meter to be added to the new one. I have a couple very small fields that are a pain with a 60 or 90 boom and this works better. works well on ditches and even use it in fall to spray dandelions on big areas of lots and lawns. I'm sure demco's website shows it. I think my cost picked up at boone valley implement in renwick was about $2700.

[Nebrfarmr]

Do you have an ATV?

I have had very good luck, using an ATV sprayer, for just what you are referring to.  About the only thing, you can't go through the crop after it reaches a certain height, but otherwise, works well.

If your ATV straddles the rows, and has a speedometer, it works just fine, for the small stuff.  It is also MUCH more convenient to use, with a hand wand, than a tractor, even a tractor without a cab.

I have a 25 gallon sprayer, that I can put on or take off my ATV in less than 5 minutes, that sprays a swath about 25 feet wide.  I know what it is nozzled for, and I just mix the spray so I can go about 5 MPH.  Of crouse, without GPS, you will have to either count rows at the end, or else use dye in the spray, to know what you did and didn't do.  I have a smaller tank than a 3 pt sprayer, but if you are just spraying a 2-3 acre patch that escaped, I bet I can get it done faster than you could, with your tractor, even though I'd have a narrower boom.  I can go 20+ mph down the row, to the weed patch, shift down, turn the sprayer on, drive the 100 yards or so where the weeds are, shut off the sprayer, go 20+ to the end, count so many rows over, and do it again.  No compaction, can go in soft fields better, road travel at 40MPH or so.  I simply use my $90 hand held GPS to keep track of where I have been, and where I haven't.

Just be sure to look for a sprayer that has separate left-right controls that are easy to reach for the boom (or boomless sprayer, whichever is better depends on your conditions)  Also, the sprayer tanks, that are horseshoe shaped, and drop down along the rear fenders, are MUCH more stable, than a standard tank, and get the weight more forward, so it isn't all on the rear end.

For doing ditches and waterways, it is far superior to a tractor.  If you ever had to pull out a tractor that got stuck in a 'soft spot' in a waterway, you will know exactly what I mean.

[Nebrfarmr]

The sprayer I have on my ATV, cost me about $800, and I use it to spray ditches, field ends, waterways, the occasional weed patch in the field, as well as the thistles on about 500 acres of cattle pasture.  I have run over 3000 gallons through it, and have had to rebuild the 12V pump only once, and that was just a check valve kit, for $30.  I highly recommend the Shurflo industrial rated pump.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Oh, Nebraska, you are a devil, you!  I do not have an ATV and have not had a great feel for a need for one.  Now you got me thinking.  The CPA suggested I spend a little money this fall.  What do I need with an ATV?  I use my little S10 pickup to drive out in the fields and it is a wreck already.  When it goes down, I figured I'd just run the 1T flatbed out there.  I also have a couple of smaller tricycle gear tractors that are handy. 

If I had an ATV I'd have to put a GPS on it so I could use it for soil sampling.  I'd have to put a hitch on it so I could use it instead of my pickup to pull behind my tractor when I needed a runner to get back when moving equipment.  Why, I have no doubt an ATV would break me.  

[Nebrfarmr]

Did not know if you had one or not, that's why I said 'if' you have and ATV.

Around here, most people have cattle, and everyone has an ATV to check irrigation and such.  Goes through mud like no pickup could (I'd say a 2 wheel drive ATV will go everywhere a 4 wheel drive pickup will, except maybe through deep snow, and a 4-wheel drive is in a whole different league). 

If your s-10 can maintain a steady speed, what about a little skid-sprayer that slides in the back of it?  They have them in 12 volt, and also powered by a little gas engine.  Might not be good at going through the field, though.
What I like about the ATV sprayer, is that if there is a weed patch, or a corner that the sprayer missed, I can get out there when I want to.  If it is way too muddy to get there with a tractor, I can still take the ATV, and float on top of wet ground (within reason, of course) and get the weeds while they are small, and easier to kill.

Around here, used ATVs start around $2000 for a 2wd in decent shape, and roughly $6000 for a new plain-Jane 4WD.