Hello friends, We have an orchard of 20 trees and do a fair amount of spraying of organic products here - also in our vegetable gardens and greenhouse. As we have a problem with coddling moth, I would like to do a schedule of spraying with Surround. We have always used a hand pumped 2 gallon sprayer, but it is a bother with surround. We are hoping to find a battery powered sprayer to help us with the work, that will work to spray Surround. Any one have any suggestions. Or if not a battery powered, perhaps a backpack? Thanks Peggy
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I use a hose-end Dial-N-Spray.
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So the hose end works for Surround??? thanks
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@peggyhamill
The Dial-N-Spray will. I don’t know about others.
You’ll need to remove the filter on the end of the suction hose when using water dispersible powders.
I recommend you first make a test spray to determine how many gallons are necessary. Fill the container to the 32 ounce mark with water. If you like, add a few Tbsp of seaweed extract. Set the dial to 1 oz per gallon. When finished, the number of oz used is the number of gallons sprayed.
Let’s suppose you used 10 oz. For your actual spray, fill the container with 10 + 4 oz. You’ll need the extra 4 because you won’t always be holding the sprayer level when spraying. With the dial set to 1 oz/gal, add the amount of Surround needed for 14 gallons of water. You’re now ready to go.
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Thanks so much Richard. That sounds like a great solution. As surround does not need to be terribly exact in the dose. I might also try it with our horticultural oil sprays. Same situation. Appreciate your thoughts. Peggy
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I, too, have a backyard orchard of 20 dwarf apple trees. Last year, I converted to a battery-powered wheeled sprayer:
The distributor I used is out of stock, so I post this link instead.
OK … so the good news is that it works. The not-so-good news is that you have to take steps to put Surround™ through it, so what follows should not be read as criticism of the product.
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I have to fill it twice to do a cover spray of all 20 trees.
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Also, I have to use a second battery to finish the job.
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The wand cradle is awkward, so I rigged an upright section of PVC pipe to the handlebars as a holster.
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There is no internal fluid pickup pipe, so, when you get to the bottom of the tank, you still have a quart or two of spray to dispose of through the drain plug.
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I found an elbow from an old aquarium filter that I could pressure fit into the pump orifice to act as a pickup pipe.
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Surround™ does not stay in suspension but requires continual agitation. This sprayer does not have an agitator — hence the need for the pickup pipe.
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I bungee a paint strainer bag over the (wide) filler neck as a filter.
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I premix the Surround™ with a little water to make a slurry that I can pour through the paint strainer.
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I pour a peanut-butter jar full of Surround™ slurry through the strainer before starting on each tree. This doesn’t dilute the cover-spray mixture by much, but it doesn’t provide very even results either. The first half of each tree gets most of the Surround™.
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You really need to clean the tank after the job. I use a powdered sprayer-tank cleaner detergent from Tractor Supply … and I rinse, too.
Other than that, the so-called self-priming pump seems to produce adequate power, pressure, and volume for a backyard gardener to putter around with. You do have to fill the tank to get the pump to prime itself, however. (This was the problem with my 25-gal Fimco sprayer: I never wanted to fill it.)
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Thanks for all of that information. Very helpful. Peggy
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I have been researching sprayers, and have decided I would like a battery-op, 4 gallon, diaphram sprayer with an agitator. It could have wheels, or I could rig up a defunct snowblower as a cart for it. It would need to spray Surround 15 feet vertically. I hope to stay under $250 for it. Most of the ads I Google up don’t give the specs, so I haven’t been able to find that combination. Any ideas?
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I need a nap.
I’m exhausted after reading all of that process!
(just teasing!)
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Hello friends, This is what I ended up buying: PetraTools 4 Gallon Battery Powered Backpack Sprayer (HD4000) - Extended Spray Time Long-Life Battery (Included) - New HD Wand, Wide Mouth Lid, Multiple Nozzles - Backpack Sprayer Battery Powered
So far, I have been delighted with it. I am not particularly strong, I am 72, and I am a woman, but I am able to carry this with the full 4 gallon load. (I do get a little sore after about 3 loads) It sprays to the tops of our trees easily, and I am certain that would be 15 feet. It seems to stay mixed if I just jiggle a little while I am walking. I can’t remember where I found it but I did read that with the battery, the diaphragm is no longer important (or maybe even relevant). I have not tried Surround yet, so I can’t speak for how that works, but I can say that this is so much easier and faster than my old pump sprayer. And to clean - I put some soapy water in the sprayer and put it on with the battery and let the battery do the work!!! I recommend this. Under $250 on Amazon.
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I have never sprayed Surround with it, but I own a Flowzone battery powered backpack sprayer. Its pretty good. Looks similar to yours. It not even in the same price range and a lot more to go wrong with it, but the gas powered backpack sprayers are in a whole other league performance wise.
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Thanks for that info. I think I might just get a Ryobi sprayer, since it has a 5-year guarantee and you can return it within 90 days. We already have several Ryobi batteries and have found Home Depot will easily replace a Ryobi product that fails. If I jiggle the cart from time to time, maybe that will agitate it enough. I hope it will spray high enough, as their specs don’t tell how high it sprays.
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I use this battery-operated sprayer:
I had some back problems so I wanted a wheeled one. A big advantage I found once I got it is capacity and power … this thing is twice the capacity and twice the power of my hand pump backpack sprayer.
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