Re: CULT: sprayers

Dear Cindy:
The one thing that will turn you off sprayers completely is to get one of those cheap 1 gallon $10 jobs from Wal-Mart, or others.
Get a $30 or better three gallon tank, or one that is decently built (the tank shouldn't buckle when you pump it) and follow all the safety tips in the manual and on the label.
The best sprayer for insects is the pump spray bottle with dishwashing or Safer soap carried along when you are weeding, cutting bloom stalks or anything else to get you close enough to see aphids. If you can't see aphids then, you are probably ready for bifocals and don't know it yet. Since all bugs breath the same way, soapy water kills all of them that you coat, so the responsibility is up to you to determine the difference between good (lady bugs, spiders) and bad bugs (aphids, borer larva etc.).
For herbicides and fungicides there are two things that can go wrong with a sprayer (there are probably more, but I'm trying to build your confidence here).
1.: The blasted thing won't pump up. The seal in your pump piston has dried out and no longer pushes air out. Squirt some machine oil in the top, aiming around the edges so it runs down the pump walls and work the piston until you start to feel resistance. As you pump you use up your compressed air. I find it's necessary to give it another 50 licks after doing a 5x50 foot bed.
2. It clogs. First, clean the nozzle by running just plain old water through it so you are sure it flows O.K. Make sure your tank has no foreign matter in it.  Then, if it clogs with your solution in it you can pump up the tank again or just keep spraying and eventually it clears. Sometimes just stopping for a minute will do it. I used to spend a lot of time taking the nozzle apart and putting it back together again, until I realized how simple it is and how unlikely it is for a clean nozzle to clog. Since I got mine used, most of the clog problems disappeared with regular use and cleaning.
When done, stand back as you slowly release the air charge by loosening the pump, rinse the tank out thoroughly, and with about a half gallon of water in it, pump the tank up again and clean the intake and nozzle by running two rinses of water through it for awhile.
Store with the pump in the tank to keep foreign matter out, after you have air dried the tank.
These 3 gallon home sprayers are usually marked for herbicide use only. Bear that in mind. Most iris growers use the following or their equivalents:
Surflan pre-emergent, now widely being replaced with Treflan granular that doesn't require spraying, but still requires 1/4-1/2 inch of rain to soak it in, or hose watering. Sprayed on the ground. Use some dishwater soap in the solution.
Poast for grass control, used on newly emergent fast growing grass. Sprayed on the grass.
Daconil fungicide sprayed on the fans before bloom. Use dishwasher soap in the solution.
Herbicide and fungicide labels are a bunch of mumbo-jumbo when it comes to application rates. I found Suflan was relatively ineffective until, on advice of the extension office horticulturist, I upped it to 1 tablespoon per gallon.
It takes a great deal more Daconil, and the label is at least something you can figure out mathematically.
I forget Poast, as I only use it late in the season or not at all. It is similar to Surflan, though.
Any questions, talk with your chemical dealer or your county extension horticulturist.
James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN
comeback@usit.net

cindy036@webtv.net wrote:

> Hi.  I'm brand new to serious iris growing.  When I began gardening 5years ago, I thought iris just happily grew. But last summer, all myoriginals were heavily attacked with borers and rot and who knowswhat else.  I cleaned them out and up thoroughly and replanted.  Thisseason, the nightmare is beginning again as I've at least learned torecognize borer damage to leaves and have been pressing on rhizs tocheck for rot.  I've done the 'ironing' with my fingers on leaves andthink I have popped a few borers and trying to keep sick lookingleaves cut, but I know I need to do more.  I'll warn you, I'm totallynon-mechanical and can't operate a pressure sprayer.  I can do a hosehook up type sprayer.  I would appreciate any help.  Thanks, Cindy east central zone 5
>
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