I think you want something that will project more than just a stream @ 30’, don’t you Chuck? A hand pump sprayer with a brass nozzle will spray a stream 30’, but really I think you need something that will project a narrow 6" or better fan at that distance…at least I do. Spraying a stream at 30’ takes gallons upon gallons of spray material for even the slightest coverage. The majority just goes on through the canopy.
I tried a backpack sprayer and it was so damn uncomfortable it wasn’t funny. I’m considering one of these 15 gal. electric tank sprayers from Northern Tool or the like. I could tow that in a trailer behind the lawn tractor and all I have to “carry” is the wand and hose. Like you, I’m curious as to how well they spray and their projection abilities.
If I can get a straight stream to the tops of my trees I can hit the beetles there and get good coverage at the narrow top. I then use a more spread out spray for the lower parts of the trees. The stream hitting the top branches drips down the interior, too. I really should measure my tree heights…for someone who measures things to thousandths of Angstroms at work I have a really poor size judgement for “real life” dimensions. I think the trees I am having trouble treating the tops of are in the 30-40 foot range. Some of the pump sprayers I have will get all my trees but those few. I have had luck on windy days by standing up wind and spraying nearly straight up and flipping the wand to get a few extra inches. Not the best technique, but I really want to kill those things. Almost fell off my ladder trying to get the extra height that way, and I really don’t want to carry a ladder around just to spray. I’ll bet one of the commercial grade sprayers with a decent pump would do it, but getting some real info on range would be nice before dropping $$ on one.
I can and do ABSOLUTELY recommend this sprayer http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_405991_405991 from Northern Tool.
Why? … Because I have one. It is a high pressure (150 PSI) sprayer and with that nozzle you can adjust it from almost foglike spread to a strong stream. Watch the video.
It is a little more pricey than those other 60 psi sprayers but is 1000000% worth it. It includes in-tank mixing to keep stuff in suspension.
LOVE IT !!!
Michael
Wow. That’s a beauty. I don’t know if I can justify the cost, and I don’t have an ATV to pull it…yet, but that sure looks like it would do the job.
Thanks for the input and one data point for future use anyway. I get to retire in another year unless they decide to pay me enough to stay one more, in which case I might very well treat myself to some toys, like that sprayer, an ATV and/or a compact tractor to replace my presently dead Kubota L210.
Chuck
I don’t know how you guys reach 20-30 tall tree tops with a small sprayer. At work we had a sprayer like the one below. It won’t reliably reach the top of pecans at most 20-25ft tall. Sprayer was mounted in a pickup. So the guys used it by standing in the bed of the truck and driving between trees spaced 30ft by 30ft. The foliage never came close to touching adjacent trees and trees were about as wide as tall.
Sprayer is rated 10 gpm at 500 psi but none reach rated specs. It’s now a $9,000 sprayer. The kind I see some pest control companies using.
I really like my Stihl sg20 backpack sprayer (their newer backpack sprayers don’t look to be of as good quality). It isn"t as comfortable as my older SP systems SP0 backpack sprayer was, but the sg20 really sprays well. Would like to have had a longer wand for both of them. The pump wore out on the SP after 7 years of use. I am afraid that I will eventually need shoulder surgery from using the backpack sprayers. Is this an unfounded fear? Eventually I am going to get one of those electric sprayers with the 25 gal tanks, they seem to work well enough.
I have a light crop of japanese beetles here this year in northern New Jersey.
FN that sprayer should have no problem reaching 80’ with the right gun. The gun is as important as the sprayer. With my sprayer I can reach 40’, unless there is strong wind, with only 4 hp driving the pump. It can create up to 300 PSI, but only runs on about 200 when you pull the trigger and it’s pushing spray.
Here in my yard the Japanese Beetles have been out in force for the past week. They used to primarily attack my 2 grape vines but since I put in some pie cherries and plums a few years ago they have new favorite targets. There are still a lot on my grapes but my young pie cherries are about defoliated and the top half of each plum is full of lacey brown leaf remnants also. I went around with a bucket of soapy water and drowned many hundreds, then sprayed Triazide and put up a beetle trap (which has trapped at least a couple hundred in 3 days). This AM I saw only a few beetles on each plum tree, much improved. Think I am going to try the milky spore stuff for the future, I have never seen them like this.
Putting up a trap is probably the worst thing to do. All you’re doing is attracting beetles
from everywhere to your yard.
There were literally thousands of beetles on my property already, I don’t plan to leave the trap up long. I think in the short term it has helped greatly.
We are talking 80ft up right? I don’t believe the fire department can do that. Not our fire department anyway.
It takes a powerful sprayer to reach 80ft horizontal with no wind. 80 ft up, no way with a pickup size sprayer.
Yes I am. Tree care companies sometimes have to go high, but I admit it was just a guess based on what I can do with my less powerful sprayer. I expect with double the pressure you could go twice as high.
My sprayer came with a gun that only sent up spray about 15-20 feet. A different gun about doubled it. I only found out when the first one broke.
I have the tow behind version of the same Northern Tool sprayer
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200313718_200313718?cm_mmc=Google-pla&utm_source=Google_PLA&utm_medium=Lawn%20%2B%20Garden%20>%20Sprayers&utm_campaign=NorthStar&utm_content=282737&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=282737&gclid=CIq4zYn-ycYCFRCCaQodTLUMDA
Some of my apple trees are over 15 feet tall. I also occasionally spray trees that are 50 feet tall.
This is by far the best sprayer I have owned.
Hey this is Texas our feet are rarely less than size 13. Maybe back East size 6 are common. 
Yes, this is the preferred method for the beetles. Eight is also a new product that may work well too.
FN, it appears 50’ is an advertised limit for typical tree care companies, although I couldn’t find anything definitive. I even looked up commercial sprayers and that isn’t even mentioned in specs.
The cheapest sprayer that can go high is probably a Hudson trombone sprayer.
Tonight I tried a new method of JB treatment. On Saturday I was at Harbor freight and bought a few things. I had a coupon for a free electric fly zapper. I loaded it with batteries and walked up to the orchard with daughter in tow. I saw a few beetles and held the swatter underneath the leaf and after a quick tap/shake 3 beetles fell onto the hot swatter. It did not make that nasty bug zapper sound but it did start sparking followed by an acrid burnt smell similar to burnt hair. My daughter immediately held her nose and started whining about the stench. Lol
I gotta say the thing worked brilliantly and all said I killed about 10 JB’s. My trees are small so there aren’t too many to deal with.
Ah yes!! The Harbor Freight bug zapper! I have one of those and one more refined, smaller grid at least, from Nenards I think. While my JB infestation is way to big to actually affect with the zapper it is therapeutic to zap a few after working up a sweat spraying. I do so love the smell of burning JBs!
I am spraying lots of Sevin here. Partly due to frequent rains, but I seem to be seeing a disturbing trend. In past years I could spray Sevin and expect the JBs to avoid those trees for at least a week if there was no rain. Yesterday I found a plum and some cherry and apple trees loaded with them after being spayed the day before, and we had no rain. I know other insecticides will knock them down as I was spraying blackberries with malathion for fruit flies and noted that it knocked down the JBs nicely. Is there any evidence of developing resistance to carbaryl?
Seems more likely to be a bad batch of Sevin. Do you get mite outbreaks on apples after repeated apps of the stuff?
Laid down the milky spore a few days ago, and killed 2 dozen JBs by stomping them or drowning them in a tupperware container filled w/ puddle water.
They are particularly fond of my Beauty plum and the sweet cherries, especially Whitegold and Craig’s Crimson, which they would completely defoliate if I let them.