After a dry spell and a bit of bit of rain, the clover burr and binides have been exploding out of the ground and the grass is struggling to catch up. Time to fight back with mechanized weapons
!
I bought myself a cheap 50L motorised spray-tank off ebay, re-wired the ride-on so it now has a merit plug down the back end and a on/off switch on the dash.
I plumbed in a T piece so I can either run the hand lance or a boom spray made from some poly with micro irrigation sprayer nozzles.
Surprisingly it works like a charm 1st go! Rather than wearing out my shoulder pumping up the hand sprayer and a dozen trips to the shed to re-fill, I can fill the tank and do most of the yard in one go.
The only issues I can see so far are:
- the spray nozzles shoot the spray about 500mm either side of the mowers width which could lead to some collateral damage.
- when I flick the OFF switch the nozzles on the boom continue to dribble.
The spray pattern can probably be adjusted to keep it more under control.
For the dribble, I thought about installing a solenoid to provide a more positive seal when I shut it off, but it will probably not fix it as I think the issue is probably also due to the diameter of the boom tube and air getting in there.
Right now it is in the trailer for the ride-on, but I plan to make a carrier so I can clip it onto the mower it's self.
All up and running for around $160, I may even have some grass left when I have finished.
