Top 6 Considerations When Buying Your Next Agricultural Sprayers

Recent studies show that as many as 77% of adults in the United States garden. One of the most important things that a gardener can use is an agricultural sprayer, though there are many other uses. Agricultural sprayers are crucial for gardening, landscaping, and many other tasks for lawn maintenance.

If you've been looking into agricultural spraying equipment, we're here to help. Here are six important factors to remember while choosing a sprayer.

1. Typical Weather Conditions

When planning any sort of landscape, one of the first things you'll want to look into is the typical weather conditions. Your agricultural equipment is also heavily dependent on one sort of environment your agriculture is in.

For example, make sure you know how windy it typically is. This will change daily, of course, but is still an important thing to take into consideration while purchasing a sprayer. Primarily, this is because you don't want to spray things on accident.

Wind will carry your spray off to other plants, which can cause quite a few problems. Moisture levels, temperature, and wind are all responsible for carrying your mixture away, and also affect drying time. Such a thing is especially important if you're spraying near plants that you don't own, such as a neighbor's home or farm.

Take stock of these characteristics of your home. This will help you choose a sprayer that distributes the correct amount of spray.

Stay knowledgeable about your surrounding weather conditions with the GreenLeaf Technologies Handheld Weather Meter WM20.

2. What Are You Spraying?

Not all sprayers are equal, and some crops will require different sprays. The way that you care for some vegetables or root plants will vary considerably from how you care for flowering, fruiting plants like strawberries.

Do some research into what sprayers are best for a garden or landscape of your particular type. Such a thing varies with a dependence completely on what you're planting, so it's important to customize. Specifically, look into common pests that your plants may attract, so that you can purchase sprays that counteract those pests.

3. What Type of Sprayer?

Another important thing is to look into the style of agricultural spraying equipment you want to use. There are two main types - hydraulic and low-volume, namely.

Hydraulic sprayers use a pump to take the spray to your crops. Water is typically a carrier in these styles of sprayer. These also operate at a high power, typically between 40 and 1,000 PSI, and use a nozzle that breaks the spray into droplets.

Low-volume sprayers instead utilize a small pump to inject liquid into its tank and help spread it. This pump is often manual and sometimes small enough to be operated with one hand. Low-volume sprayers also often in a less dense mist than hydraulic sprayers will.

The type you use depends entirely on your agricultural needs, as well as preference. Take stock of what you intend to spray and decide on the best style from there.

4. How Big Is the Area?

To help decide on a type of sprayer, it's also important to think of how big the area is. For example, if you're going to be covering acres and acres of land, you may not want a manual sprayer that you have to pump. Such a thing may feel inefficient and highly labor-intensive.

Take stock of your land, your farm, and how much you intend to be spraying. Larger tracts of land may make use of a 25-gallon agricultural sprayer, for example. These are often pulled behind a truck or an ATV and dispense the spray as you drive.

If you're working with an extra-large area, such as an entire farm, acreage, or something similar, a three-point agricultural sprayer may be in order. This is more of an industrial fix, and most agricultural individuals won't need to use such a large machine.

When in doubt, remember that it's better to have too much instead of not enough. Consider getting a size higher than you need, especially if you'll be expanding your agricultural area before much longer. This will stop you from having to stop mid-project to refill your sprayer's tank.

5. Effort and Budget

Looking at the size of your agricultural project can help decide something just as important - what can you afford? Agricultural sprayers aren't always cheap, and the price only increases the larger your sprayer becomes.

Take stock of what you can afford and how often you'll be spraying. Doing this can help you narrow down your choices, from size to other important choices for your agricultural equipment.

The effort that you can put in is important as well. If using a pump is physically difficult because of conditions like arthritis, you wouldn't want to use a manual sprayer. Furthermore, some may find it a chore to carry a heavier sprayer around, helping to opt towards a larger ATV-pulled model.

6. Proper Sprayer Parts

Many sprayers come with customizable hoses and nozzles to help you fine-tune your agriculture experience. However, cheaper models may not come with what you need or prefer. Lower-end agricultural sprayers do cost less, but may not have the attachments, features, or quality-of-life improvements you want for your model.

Look at the model you're getting, and make sure it has the proper options for you. You may want a more effective nozzle or one that disperses your spray mixture in a particular way. This could be something like wanting a heavier, denser spray due to wind carrying off finer mists.

Purchasing Agricultural Sprayers

Purchasing agricultural sprayers is a big step in any agricultural journey, and one that shouldn't be taken lightly. Take stock of your needs and everything that you'll be using for your garden or farm. Choosing a sprayer may seem overwhelming, but follow these six easy steps and you're on your way to the agricultural experience of your dreams!

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us. You can also browse our extensive website for more information on agricultural spraying equipment.