If I've got clear water running on my property can I use that to tank mix with my herbicide? It's a little colored with tannin but it's running and clear. What are my concerns here? I've heard organic matter in the water can bind with glyphosate. Drilling a well is outside my budget. It's clay, and too deep for a sand point well. I'm skeptical about my long term desire to truck water up there when it's time to spray.
Stream Water For Spraying
- Thread starter Kooch
- Start date
Peplin Creek
5 year old buck +
I’d bet it would work. I think just a screen to filter out debris would work.
A $500 Honda gasoline powered pump should would solve a lot of problems for me if this water will work. Maybe I'll try a small scale test with a hand sprayer next time I'm up. I've only got two acres of food plot right now and I can spray that with 25 gallons. There's room for more food and if I do that I'll need to figure out the water situation.
Thanks @ncnat
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Filter the water first then add water soluble AMS to the tank first and agitate it. The AMS will bind with the free ions. Then add the gly to your tank. The nominal total kill rate for gly is 2 quarts/ac. Be sure to calibrate your sprayer.
Thanks,
Jack
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
X3 - Mix it with Sprayable AMS. I use 1 solo cup (1 1/2 #) per 10 gallons of water and it works fine.
weekender21
5 year old buck +
Same here. Only used creek water a few times but the gly killed as advertised.
Is the use of AMS critical? Can it be used with a backpack sprayer?
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Tap
5 year old buck +
The point of using AMS is that it could be critical. If you have a certain amount of mineral content in the water, the gly may work to some lesser degree, or it could hardly work at all. Also, the weed species comes into play. Some weeds are becoming more and more gly resistant and are difficult to kill under the best of conditions.
For the price of the AMS, and the effort, money, fuel and everything else that I put into a plot, why take chances with the water? I use AMS all the time. I wish Brushpile would re-post his interesting info on water, minerals and gly efficiency.
And yes, AMS works fine out of a backpack sprayer. If you use granular AMS, just make sure it's fully dissolved in a separate bucket 1st. It dissolves easily. Add AMS to the water before any other chemicals.
I have been using pond or creek water for years. The first tank I spray with water out of the home faucet. Everything after that is pond or slough water. Used water so dirty last week i couldnt see six inches down. I do pay attention - but have never noticed a difference where I spray the first tank with tap water and the last tanks with dirty water. I use a 750 gph bilge pump and a lawnmower battery to fill my tank. Takes about ten minutes on a 55 gal sprayer. I spray gly, 2,4-D, and Cleth
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
It can certainly be used in a backpack sprayer. Notice the above posts saying it makes no difference. They are not lying. It completely depends on the chemical makeup of the water. Minerals in "clean" well water can make gly less effective just as some "dirt" can. It really depends on the makeup of the dirt and the chemistry of the water. Also, keep in mind that minerals that bind with the glyphosate make it less effective, not completely ineffective. Some folks will be able to use water from a creek or pond that has the right chemistry and it won't make enough difference to notice. Some folks don't understand that when gly is sprayed on a field, it is not sprayed as a solution X% but on a per acre basis and use spot spraying instructions for ag spraying. Some folks don't calibrate their sprayers. So, they may be spraying more gly per acre than they think and thus not see a difference.
It is pretty hard to tell you how much AMS to use. The amount will depend on how much water you are using and the chemistry of the water. So, the bottom line is that it is not critical to use AMS. The benefit will largely depend on your water. With a questionable water source, I would use it. There is no real downside to using it.
The real risk here is using the correct amount of gly given the weed species and stage of growth but end up with a less effective kill. When some individual weeds of a particular species are killed by gly but others of that species are injured but recover enough to propagate, you have just removed the most susceptible members from the breeding population and allowed the most resistant to reproduce. When this is repeated over time, the epigenetic expression, and eventually the genetics, lead to a glyphosate resistant population. Some species have more natural resistance to gly than others.
I just wanted to make clear that the folks saying they see no difference and those recommending the use of AMS are not in conflict. It really just depends on the water chemistry of each locality.
Thanks,
Jack
j-bird
Moderator
I have never used creek water, but my well water has such a high iron content I'm surprised it doesn't come out the spout in chuncks! The guy who drilled it was complaining that the iron content was so high that it was stating to cause surface rust on the bit he was using during the drilling process. AMS is your friend. I use it in liquid and granular form.......Screening the water from the creek will be important as well, just to keep sand and the like from chewing up your pump seals and the like as well.
weekender21
5 year old buck +
Wow, great discussion. I'm pretty new to spraying with the backpack sprayer and my local Co-op never mentioned AMS. I'll have to give it a try or at least monitor my results more closely now that I'm aware of the potential issues.
As Yoderjac explained - your results could vary significantly depending on the chemical makeup of your water - and also the plants you are trying to kill. Some plants are easily killed with glyphosate - some not so easy.
It is very easy for someone receiving information from someone else to expect the same results and very easy for someone supplying information to someone else to expect the same results. I have two parcels of land in the same river basin - eight miles apart - and managing them is night and day difference. The best way to figure out what works on your piece of ground is try it. If it doesnt work - try something else.
Tap
5 year old buck +
Other than costing a few extra dollars, I can't see any reason not to add AMS. AMS may be the cheapest expense of a plot.
Plotting, for me has a fairly small time-frame window. By the time my fields get dry enough for access, it may be the middle of June or later. Then add another couple of weeks for herbicide to do it's job, then worry about the weather the whole time, and by that time, weeds may be beyond the proper maturity for effective spraying. On top of it, partial killing of weeds is contributing to herbicide resistant weeds. I'm not taking chances with any of that...I'll spend a few bucks and add AMS.
Plotting, for me has a fairly small time-frame window. By the time my fields get dry enough for access, it may be the middle of June or later. Then add another couple of weeks for herbicide to do it's job, then worry about the weather the whole time, and by that time, weeds may be beyond the proper maturity for effective spraying. On top of it, partial killing of weeds is contributing to herbicide resistant weeds. I'm not taking chances with any of that...I'll spend a few bucks and add AMS.
Lee Haakenson
5 year old buck +
Ive used creek water without thinkig twice about it - no issues experiences.
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