Mesquite Spot Spraying

[foreverfencing]

Anyone on here ever do any spot spraying (individual plant treatment) on mesquite?

Looking to talk about spray setups - I am looking to upgrade since we have about double the acreage to do compared to last spray season and I think I could spend a little and increase efficiency by a lot. I am purchasing a new/used Polaris Ranger to work off of and then resell after 2020 spray season. I was able to freely borrow a 2013 Gator XUV without power steering last year that was held together with baling wire, duct tape, and ranchhand ingenuity. While it had its share of breakdowns and problems, it held together just enough to cover the pastures we needed done.

Current setup:
25 gallon tank
1.6 gpm 12V Flojet pump

 

[Traveler]

Don't have experience with Mesquite, but an outfit like this one in a picture I found, is a whole lot handier than one mounted in a side by side. ~25 gallons is a doable weight for a good 4 wheeler. I wouldn't care to use the quad in the picture.

 

[Faster horses]

Mr FH uses a sidexside as he can put 60 gallons in the spray tank. He isn't going over real steep hills tho.

 

[foreverfencing]

I'm thinking of going to a 40-50 gallon tank. Since I fill it from a pasture tank, I'm also thinking of getting a transfer pump vs. my method of just using a 5 gallon bucket to fill haha

 

[foreverfencing]

Yeah, I'm looking to go to 40-50 gallons. I'm in pretty rough country at times crossing ravines and such, but last time I had the 25 gallon tank plus several small containers to refill on the go that amounted to about 45 gallons total of weight in the cargo bed (Granted, it's spread out, sloshed less in more containers, and was very low profile) but didn't have issues going up/down anything steep.

I'm just wondering if I need to invest in another pump. Not sure I want to pay the $100-150 amount for something like 2.2 gpm or 3 gpm because it's only a little more than my current one, but since I'm going up to potentially a 50 gallon tank, idk. Indecision at its best *shrug*

Regardless, still looking at buying a 5 gpm pump for water transfer (I wondered about the possibility of attaching and reattaching hoses off of one 5 gpm pump to refill the tank and spray off of that single pump. I'd only need to refill that large of a tank 2-3 times a day, but I don't want to cause the connections to leak over time with the constant loosening/tightening.) Another drawback is that 5gpm might be too strong of a spray on the plant. Geez, I wish I could test run these pumps then I'd know for sure if it made a huge difference in spray pressure!

I had about 15 ft of hose and I think I'll up that to about 25 ft, so that could warrant the increase in pump.
Anyone know of any small hose reels out there I could rig up?

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Use Banjo fittings, they are quick and pretty good. you should be able to fill and spray with same pump. I do with my fire unit.

 

[Brad S]

Many moons ago we used a sprayer that used a 5horse Briggs and a gear reduction and small piston pump. Electric solenoid valves to switch from mounted spray boom to hand wand. We sprayed 2 45 T, (aka agent orange) not available today. Only had fair efficacy- mesquite is tough. I'd suggest designing my sprayer based on the coverage suggested by the herbicide I'm using.