Garden Sprayer Recommendations

[peeweelovesbooks]

So, my collection of mounted plants is growing....I think I need/WANT a sprayer.

What are your recommendations?

[Royal]

Go cheap, when it breaks, fails, or leaks just buy another. They're not to pricey (8-12 bucks), and the expensive ones break just as easily.

[Donald]

Royal has the right idea. There are plenty on the market especially at the "big box stores".

[cb977]

I have a 2 gallon pump style from Gilmour, purchased from Lowe's. Works great but is an effort to pump it up. I use this one for rainwater only.

I also have a rechargeable electric sprayer from Black & Decker. Mine gets used A LOT (this is the one I use for fertilizing) and I had problems with it twice. Both times, I contacted B&D, brought the bad unit to our local dealer and they took care of it. Once it was totally replaced and once they repaired it.

[BikerDoc5968]

I would agree...don't spend millions on a garden sprayer. For me it was important that it was of simple design and readily available parts. I purchased mine at HomeDepot. This time of the year they may be hard to find, since they are a seasonal item. Like others I use the smaller 2 gal (orange) for insecticides and RD-20 and just water to wet down the GH floor in winter and the larger 3 gal for food and only for food

[Royal]

Those are nicer than mine. I bought a "nicer" one for around twenty dollars and it failed in about 3 months. So when I went back I just got the cheapest one - It's lasted for 6 months so far.

[D&S Mabel]

I bought 2 - 2gal sprayers from Lowes that are both labeled "Roundup Heavy Duty Sprayer" for around $20/ea and both have worked for more than a year without a hitch. At first I had bought a cheaper one for about $3 less but it did not easily seal properly each time you filled. Our local HDs and Lowes don't seem to carry the Gilmour brand.

That said, if you really need to drench your collect, I think nothing beats a hose-end sprayer!

[BikerDoc5968]

Royal, they really aren't that nice, but thank you....the gray one has a brass wand only because it is that old and that is what they used back then...now they are all PVC or some type of plastic....

[peeweelovesbooks]

thanks everyone. what is a hose end sprayer?

[D&S Mabel]

Ortho at Lowe's: Dial'N Spray Hose End Sprayer

Try this link to see a picture of a hose end sprayer. You screw it on to the end of a garden hose, fill the small tank with whatever you need to spray, dial in the concentration on the sprayer, point and squeeze the trigger. It can cover a large area in a small amount of time.

I have about 350 plants and have used these sprayers for fertilizers and insecticides. For me, they are more then twice as fast as the pump sprayers and put out alot of mixture to really douse my plants. I also don't have to reload them as much as the pump sprayers.

On the minus side, the hose end sprayers cover a wide swath and are not nearly as "strategic" as the pump sprayers can be. This isn't usually a very big concern for me as my grow area is outside and fairly open - although I usually do manage to spray our sliding glass doors with the hose end spayers.

When feeding, I use the hose end sprayer during our dry season as it waters and fertilizes at the same time and I use the pump sprayers during the rainy season when the plants need the food more then the water.

For pesticides, the pump works great for small jobs, the hose end for covering large ones.

Seems to work well so far.