by Bill George
The Challenge
A few years ago when I pursued two professions and tended to 120 roses, it occurred to me that there ought to be a quicker way to spray my roses . Quicker than the old pump for three minutes and spray for five. My sprayer capacity was less than 3 gallons so I would have to mix sprays twice making the project take even longer.
I started to shop around to
see what the market offered in the way of a new sprayer for a reasonable
price. Reasonable, being the key word here. There did not appear to be
anything available in the 6 to 10 gallon capacity electric type sprayer
ffor under $250. I found this to be somewhat unreasonable.
I was looking for something very portable that included NO pumping and
no clumsy extention cord. Hose end sprayers were eliminated from my
list as they do not disperse spray mixes accurately.
Searching for Perfection
Thru the
proscess of elimination, I began searching for the perfect battery
operated pump sprayer with a mid range capacity.
I looked thru gardening magazines and The American Rose Magazine. I
read ads and I watched sample videos sent out by manufacturers wanting
me to buy their product. I posted questions on the infamous Internet
but nobody seemed to make the perfect sprayer for that all pervasive
"reasonable" price (like under $150).
It seemed to me that a sprayer such as described, could not be a very
complicated device.
It would need to consist of a pump, a reservoir, a power source, a
spray wand, some hose and some sort of rig for carting all this stuff
around, plus maybe a few odds and ends from the hardware store.
The Pump
The
heart of this project was going to be pump. If I could find a good
reliable pump I was in bussiness.
My search ended at a mail order company called Northern (1-800-533-5545)
. Northern's free catalog also offers assembled sprayers in different
forms but with nothing less than a 15 gallon capacity. The subject
of my quest was a 12 volt on demand motorized electrical pump for about
$80. "On demand", meaning a pump will automatically turn on and off to
hold a prescibed pressure dispersed to the spray hose and wand.
So after a two year search for the perfect sprayer, I sent off for my
first component this spring. The next item I needed was a reservoir.
I found it while shopping at a Sam's Club in the form of a 6 gallon
plastic bucket containing birdseed. I used the seed for my visiting
feathered friends and mounted the pump with 4 screws to the lid of the
pail.
How I Did It
I drilled one small hole in the lid to act as a vent. On the
inlet side of the pump, I attached a hose and ran it thru the lid long
enough to reach the bottom of the bucket with a coarse screen at the end
to filter out any debri in the spray mix. On the outlet side of the
pump, I attached about 25 feet of 3/8" hose with a spray wand on the end
which I had salvaged off my old spayer. I was now past the point of no
return as I had canibalized my pump sprayer. No love lost there!! For
my energy source, I used a small 12 volt car battery which is readily
rechargable with a car battery charger, purchased at any automotive
supply store. Don't most of use have one of these around the garage
anyways waiting for that dreaded winter day when the cold temperatures
win out over the car battery's ability to get up and go? Here was a
chance for me to use it in a more positive form. Now I needed something
to put my creation on wheels for portability. I found exactly what I
needed at a garage sale in the form of a child's wagon. It was an
authenic red Hawthorn 800 for the very reasonable price of $15. Not a
Radio Flyer but hey, it worked for me!!
After putting the components in the wagon and wiring the battery to the
pump with a toggle switch incorporated to manually turn the pump off, I
was ready to spray.
The Test Drive
First time out it worked superbly until the bucket
got down to near emty and it fell out of the wagon. Just a little top
heavy! I used one of those elastic hold down straps referred to as a
bungi cord to remedy the problem by hooking it to the lip of the wagon
bed on each side of the bucket. Now the bucket stays with the wagon
much better. I have room enough left in the wagon for a second bucket
to hold clippings and weeds that I am forever pulling while spraying.
In Conclusion
This was a relatively simple project that has worked great for me at the
very "reasonable" price range of under $125. Now when I'm spraying, I
often thank my lucky stars, I'm not pumping my fool head off. For
anyone who sprays more than 50 roses, you might consider this for a
winter project. It will make life a whole lot easier when spraying your
roses. Good luck!