backpack sprayers

[rmmllc]

Newly licensed- will be spraying lawns and doing simple foundation sprays for bugs. Question is what backpack sprayers are your favorites? Mostly for the foundations, but also for spot spraying when I do granular in the summer (I'll do liquid fert in spring). Also, what chemicals? Lesco guys say bithehthrin (sp) is good, anyone back that up?

[rmmllc]

I'm looking at the Echo and Stihl sprayers- are they any good?

[ted putnam]

I'm looking at the Echo and Stihl sprayers- are they any good?

I love my Stihl. Only downside is the handle is not interchangeable. Pump with left, spray with right...No good if you're a southpaw. Other than that, no problems.

[old oak lawn]

I do a little spraying and have 2 stihl backpack sprayers. love them.

[bill8379]

How do the higher end back pack pumpers compare to battery shurflow?

[rmmllc]

any experience with the echo unit?

[greendoctor]

I love my Maruyama MS074. It is good for 350PSI and 1.9GPM. I use it for lawn applications, shrub and tree work, IVM, as well as perimeter applications. This past December, I picked up a Solo 433, this machine is also engine driven. It is rated at 435PSI, I am fairly certain that fluid volume is similar. Both of those sprayers bypass back into that tank. So I have no problems applying fungicides, insecticides, simazine/atrazine, diuron, or anything that is a wettable powder or DF. At one time I was considering electric sprayers, but decided they would only be good for glyphosate or Threeway amine. My usual broadleaf herbicides are 2,4-D ester or Speedzone and those should be kept agitated when applied.

I used to use Solo 425's or SPI, hated the pumping, lack of pressure and low flow. Now I am able to run either an ARAG gun with a 2.5MM nozzle up a 20 ft tree, any Teejet nozzle up to 2GPM or a 3 nozzle boom. Some of you might be wondering why I am not doing this with a truckmount and a Permagreen or Z-Spray. The properties I maintain are usually 1 acre or less, many of the turf and landscaped areas are up or down stairs and even the flat areas are cut off by narrow gates or doors.

Where I appreciate a portable power sprayer the most is when I am treating things like hibiscus, ixora, roses or any other dense shrub. My usual gun for this work is a Teejet double swivel fitted with disc-core nozzles on a 4 ft 1/4" stainless steel wand. Coverage of the leaf and stems, especially the undersides is excellent. The usual way the "landscapers" here spray shrubs is send out an illiterate worker with a Solo 425 or some other hand sprayer and expect him to cover the inner stems and undersides of the leaves. What I normally see is the worker waving the wand rapidly over the top and sides of the shubs or hedge, working very hard and doing a piss-poor job of covering where the mealybugs or whitefly are. With this image in my mind, I have no problems making only a gallon or two of spray and starting the machine to treat a few shrubs. I do have a B & G hand can, but that is only used for low pressure applications to areas under 500 sq ft. Seems I only use it for glyphosate in gravel or cracks or basal bark sprays with Garlon/2,4-d.

[rmmllc]

That's a good idea, but I don't have a lot of volume to spray (yet). Makes sense though- especially in Hawaii- like you said, hills, stairs, gates- must be gorgeous.

[Mscotrid]

I like the Birchmeier sprayer I picked up from Lesco. Swiss made and all the important parts are brass, minimal plastic. I also like the fact the pump cylinder is on the outside of the tank not inisde like many others. The handle unscrews for easy up-right storage.

You will pay a little more than all the plastic pump up styles but the longevity and durability of the product should pay for its' self in the long run.

[greendoctor]

It sure is gorgeous. I do have to admit it does get warm and humid from August through December. It is warm and sunny most of the year save for some rainstorms. I think once you try an engine driven backpack, you would be hooked. As I once said, there is nothing wrong with making only a gallon or two. The other reason I will make a partial tank is if I am broadcast spraying a lawn. A power sprayer enables me to keep a constant 15-40PSI at the nozzle. DOA loves me because I can verify application pressure and volume applied per area. The other "landscapers" are just guessing and spotting with their manual sprayers. I do not spot spray lawns with an uncallibrated gun.

[PSUturf]

I use an SP Backpack. Can't say anything bad about it.

[Houser]

Try to find Cooper Pegler. Their best model is CP3. I have been using one last 15 years, still going. Handle can be installed left or right. Comes with low - high pressure knob, which is very practical. Renwick, inc. was their distributor.

[qualitylawnpro]

Royal Condor 5 gal. sprayers are the best.There imported from Columbia. I buy them from sleequipment.com Ive had one for 5 years no problems. ive heard stihl uses these and puts there name on them and there more expensive.