Insecticide sprayer recommendation

[Brian Tymchak]

Decided to save myself some money by doing my own bag worm treatments for my arbivitae hedge. I need a sprayer that will reach the top of the 20' arbivitaes. I don't need an expensive motorized unit as I have just 8 or 9 tall arbivitaes in the hedge and will spray them 2 or 3 times a year. So a manual pump unit will be just fine. Unfortunately, I'm not finding any info on how high the sprayers will spray. Can anyone recommend a sprayer with that reach?

Thanks!

[Rich Engelhardt]

- Duct tape plastic tube to an extension pole on a pump up garden sprayer.
Stand on a 6' step ladder.

- A Super Soaker can do 20 feet and then some. Probably get all over yourself though.

- Balloons filled with bug juice & a bike innertube/plastic funnel sling shot. Nail them wormies from a football field away.

- Long, long, long tube - pump up sprayer - drone....death from above 21st century style.

- (woodworking related) build a trebuchet for the bug juice balloon bombs. Get Medieval on the worms.

- Get a couple cases of beer & a BB gun. Tag a worm, sip a beer.....repeat...not really efficient, but, after the first 50 sips - who cares?

[Stan Calow]

I can get pretty high with a hose-end sprayer, although it's messy. And sometimes, I can reach a few with the wasp 'n' hornet foam sprayer that gets 10-12 ft.

I had an infestation in a large baldcypress tree in my backyard. I treated it once with those bullet-shaped pesticide "suppositories" that you pound into the tree trunk around the circumference, and they never returned.

And I keep an eye out for the silk parachutes they use to travel on the wind. They look like long strands of white thread blowing along.

[Tom M King]

I keep one on a tractor. The wand pump is 150 psi at 1.5 gpm. It will reach 20 feet high with no problem. I don't know of a pump sprayer that will go that high. Going up is harder than going out to the side that far. If one is advertised as going 20 feet, it might go out for 20 feet, but it probably won't go up 20 feet.

One of my jobs as a teenager was burning bagworm sacks. We used a bamboo fishing pole with some kerosene on a rag. You have to not put enough kerosene on the rag that it runs down the pole.

[Bill Dufour]

I would suggest a trombone sprayer. Full pressure on each stroke for max height.
Hudson claims 150 PSI 25-30 feet.
BilL D

[Sam Force]

Maybe it's just me, but personally I would not want to be in the vicinity when spraying an insecticide 20 feet high. The drift and droplets falling would be of great concern. I do have some experience in applying insecticide and I'm sure none were labeled for use as you are seeking to use. :eek:

[Larry Frank]

Yes, you need to be very careful spraying that high as you will likely get spray on you, in your eyes and potentially breath some. Your clothes will also be contaminated. Please think about this carefully.

[Tom M King]

You have to do it in a favorable light wind-not too hard to make you miss the target, but enough movement to carry it away from you. I do it a lot, but only in the right conditions. Some days you can't spray everything, but only the targets that are in the safe zone. You can't plan to do it next Saturday. You have to go when the conditions are right.

[Sam Force]

Serious research should be done before attempting suggestions in this thread. Like I mentioned, I know of no products where labels give these directions.

[Ken Platt]

I have and love the dewalt cordless sprayer. Holds 4 gallons, sits pretty well on my back, although getting it onto my back can be awkward. As others mentioned, trying to do 20 feet high from the ground would likely get a lot of the spray on you. However, I find that it's pretty easy to use a small ladder, and get a bit of height, and spray from there. I do my fruit trees this way, they are probably 15 feet tall or so. FWIW, I've used many hand-pump type sprayers, hose end sprayers, and ditched them all when I found this thing.

Ken

[Brian Tymchak]

I plan to spray this product (https://southernag.com/product/thuricide-bt-caterpiller-control/). And plan to wear PPE.


Maybe it's just me, but personally I would not want to be in the vicinity when spraying an insecticide 20 feet high. The drift and droplets falling would be of great concern. I do have some experience in applying insecticide and I'm sure none were labeled for use as you are seeking to use. :eek:

I'm not sure that I understand your comment. I've had those arbivitaes and a few other trees professionally treated for maybe 15 years. There must be some products that are labeled for spraying like that. I found nothing in the SDS and labelling that indicated I would be violating any guidance. However, if you read thru the docs (links at bottom of page I linked above) and find something, please point it out. This is the first time I've considered doing this.

[Sam Force]

You got me there, I have never seen a label quite like that. Products I have used required documentation of droplet size and yearly calibration of equipment. Not to mention yearly reporting of usage and coverage areas

[Michael Weber]

I keep one on a tractor. The wand pump is 150 psi at 1.5 gpm. It will reach 20 feet high with no problem. I don't know of a pump sprayer that will go that high. Going up is harder than going out to the side that far. If one is advertised as going 20 feet, it might go out for 20 feet, but it probably won't go up 20 feet.

One of my jobs as a teenager was burning bagworm sacks. We used a bamboo fishing pole with some kerosene on a rag. You have to not put enough kerosene on the rag that it runs down the pole. Funny. The voice of experience?

[Tom M King]

Yes. It was a lesson anyone who did it had to learn the hard way. Someone finally figured out the best way to do it was a half used roll of toilet paper duct taped to the pole, and just dip the end, not the whole roll, in Kerosene.

[Brian Tymchak]

I would suggest a trombone sprayer. Full pressure on each stroke for max height.
Hudson claims 150 PSI 25-30 feet.
BilL D

I finally found the Hudson trombone sprayer (https://bugspray.com/equipment/sprayers/trombone-sprayer.html). ..At first I thought you were pulling my leg..:rolleyes:

Unfortunately there is a note that it is no longer available. But it does seem it would have been a good solution. The recommended alternatives start at like $375. More than I want to spend.