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  • From: Barking Cat Farm <barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] posting a question
  • Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:57:06 -0500

Hi Jen,

I'm with Farmer Breck.  We have a Solo 4 gal hand pump diaphragm type backpack sprayer.  We've used it for 5 seasons now and it does a good job.  Only knock on it is the button that you can engage for continuous spraying (so you don't have to squeeze the handle continuously) broke a while back.  Nothing a temporary rubber band, duct tape, or bungie cord couldn't fix if it was important to us. We paid about $80 back then from BWI.

One of my best ever road find "treasures" was an Echo brand piston style 5+ gallon backpack sprayer like the orange bottomed one shown here <http://www.echo-usa.com/prods_list.asp?Category=SPRAYER>, the MS-50.  In my humble opinion, it is quite a bit heavier duty feeling than the Echo.  But, it is also heavier to lug around, and costs more like $120-$130.  And like Farmer Breck mentioned, you might want to stay away from piston type sprayers if you're spraying something abrasive.  The other knock on the Echo is note from the picture that the handle hose is on the same side of the sprayer as the pump handle.  It can make for a little awkwardness when you're trying to hoist a loaded sprayer and grab the spraying handle with your right hand.

Then again, it has been my opinion that I usually have to do some kind of a little dance to grab the sprayer handle with either sprayer, so it's just a fine point.

In short, both the Solo and the Echo have been good sprayers for us.  Kim has a good point, too.  We use both sprayers on smaller sections of our farm where we cannot get a track with a PTO driven sprayer.  I cannot imagine doing the whole farm with it; the small areas we use them on wear me out.

Laurie



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