deepsleep
5 year old buck +
After reading all of the sprayer woes on here (and dealing with some of them myself), I decided to look at higher end sprayers. I came across an older thread on Superior Industries sprayers. They are pricier than my old sprayers, but (I believe) well worth it. I ordered a few weeks ago and added some custom features, so the order to ship time was about 10 days. I went with a 60 gallon tank, 5.3 gmp/100 psi pump, side remote control, chemical injection system, and had an extra quick connect plumbed in before the chemical injection, with a 30' tree gun for spraying fruit trees. I had the chance to use it last weekend, and it is even better than I expected. The tank is very thick and fits nicely in the Ranger bed with the tailgate closed. The hardware is all topnotch, and the filter is similar to what you'd see on a boat livewell. The remote control folds down to sit comfortably by your left hand (they make other remote options as well). On the remote are right and left valves to open flow to each spray nozzle as well as a master valve to close/open both. There is a power switch for the pump, a pressure gauge, and a bypass valve to adjust the pressure. I thought the remote might be overkill and I was wrong. I was able to spray all of my plots (large and small) without leaving the seat of my ranger. The nozzles are very robust and have a very even pattern to my eye. As great as all these features are, the thing that puts it way out in a league of its own is the chemical injection. There is a Dosatron pump immediately prior to the nozzles and hand sprayer that pulls chemical out of one of the 2.5 gallon tanks (there are 2 removable tanks molded into the top of the 60 gallon tank) and injects it into the water as it passes through the pump. It is adjustable for different rates/chemicals. So, to spray gly, for example, I set the Dosatron at the proper rate, pour gly into the chemical tank, and fill the big tank with water. I then spray whatever I want as the injector mixes chemical for me. When done, simply connect the injector to the other chemical tank (filled with water) and run for a few minutes to clean the injector of a few tablespoons of gly. The remainder of the system has water in it. There is a sump bottom in the tank that holds a few cups and has a convenient drain. No more figuring out how to waste leftover chemical, or spending 30 minutes cleaning the tank after spraying. As for fruit tree spraying, I had a separate line plumbed in before the chemical injection pump, so it will only spray what is in the tank. In this case, I will mix my fruit tree spray in the tank as the pump is much better and the capacity much larger than my current fruit tree sprayer. I can probably do all of my trees on one fill.
