Sprayers

Sprayers

Others have covered the options for smaller applications well, but with a growing hibiscus collection the time may come for a sprayer that gets the job done both better and faster. Better by providing more pressure that forces the spray into the plant canopy and makes it easier to treat all plant surfaces including bottoms of leaves. Faster because such sprayers cover a lot of plants in a short amount of time.

A 3 to 5 gallon backpack sprayer is a common choice for this type of application. Most are manually pumped with one hand while the spray wand is held in the other hand. There are also a few fitted with a small gas engine that operate at higher pressure and do not require manual pumping. I currently have one of each of these for different applications.

The main drawbacks to backpack sprayers are the weight that you carry and the limit to how much spray solution can be mixed at once. The largest hold 5 gallons of spray which weighs about 40 pounds plus the weight of the sprayer. Even so my yard requires 10 gallons to cover completely and that means refilling the tank in the middle of the job.

When the weight and small amount of spray become a burden another good option exists. That is a sprayer that has a larger tank mounted on a frame with wheels that is pushed into position plus a spray wand on an extra long hose. Typically the tank will hold from 10 to 18 gallons of spray and the wand is attached to 10 to 100 feet of spray hose, the longer ones being rolled onto a reel that is also attached to the frame. The cheaper units are powered by electric pumps and do a fine job of providing sufficient pressure to quickly and thoroughly spray a greenhouse up to 100 x 30 feet in size. For even larger applications a gasoline powered engine of about 5 horsepower is used instead and the tank may hold up to 100 gallons. I used the electric type for many years and found them adequate for smaller greenhouses.

I've tried a lot of backpack sprayers and other units and like the ones I am currently using the most. Its dark now but tomorrow I will check the model names and numbers and add them to this post.

If it is affordable going with the electric powered pump sprayer and a 10-12 gallon wheel mounted tank would be the best way to go. I haven't priced them in awhile but would expect to spend $300-500 for this type. A good manually pumped backpack sprayer can be had for about $100 but they can become very tiresome to use. Cindy uses one to apply Roundup on weeds around the garden but I much prefer the powered backpack for spraying all the plants in the garden. In the greenhouse I use other systems that can cover an acre of hibiscus in a reasonable amount of time.

Charlie