Tell me about ATVs (quads) and spray packs

[JillA]

Thinking about investing in one, going to see a Honda 500cc one on Sunday. Which to avoid, which have given good service - broadcast sprayer or boom on a mix of paddocks and fields? I'm determined to get rid of buttercups and clover but it would take me about 100 years with a knapsack - and they would be back before I had halfway finished

 

[Dannylandrover]

I asked my husband as he knows about habitat management and spraying etc and he said Logic do a good sprayer. Here is link to site...http://www.logictoday.co.uk/equestrian.

 

[CarolineJ]

We have a boom sprayer on ours. One word of warning, unless your fields are absolutely flat, get a 4WD quad. We have a Honda 250TRX, about 10 years old, runs perfectly fine, but when it's got a fully loaded tank of weedkiller on the back, it struggles even on the small inclines unless we weight the front down with rocks!

 

[Dry Rot]

I have a C-Dax and I am very pleased with it. For quads, there is Honda..Honda...Honda.

Not so sure about puchasing professional chemicals, though. Don't we all need to go on courses and pass examinations these days? I did hear mention of a £1,000 cost. Oh, and I think your sprayer will have to be tested too. Regulations come into force in November 2016. But that may just be 'grandfather rights' ending. I'll be stocking up and spraying by moonlight. Or is after 5pm (or 4pm on Fridays) sufficient? The red tape is getting ridiculous. I need to pass an examination so I can spray the yard!!!

 

[JillA]

Thanks all - the Honda I am going to look at is 500cc and 4wd, but my land is very flat really. Taking a Man Who Knows with me - it had done just over 1600 miles but has had most of the engine rebuilt, we want to know why.
Dry Rot I have never had any problem buying herbicides, all I needed was a holding number but if I do find my local supplier being difficult I just got some off ebay for a neighbour. Who enforces the regulations, do you know?

 

[case895]

I just hire a local farmer who sprays for me. I source the spray concentrate and he comes and does it in a tractor with 12 foot booms.

 

[Overread]

We have a boom sprayer on ours. One word of warning, unless your fields are absolutely flat, get a 4WD quad. We have a Honda 250TRX, about 10 years old, runs perfectly fine, but when it's got a fully loaded tank of weedkiller on the back, it struggles even on the small inclines unless we weight the front down with rocks!

Even on a 4*4 if you've put a heavy load on the back (or the front) you've still got to weight the other half down. The suspension on quads/ATVs and the tyre pressures are all very "squishy" which lets them be versatile over rougher terrain, but at the same time it means that if you put a heavy load in the back, the front is going to lift up as it pivots on the rear wheels and squishes that part of the suspension system (which includes the tyre pressure) down. That means less grip on the front wheels, plus also less stability and more chance to flip it over (esp if you went up a hill).

Thus you have to weight down the front as well so that its evenly balanced front to back.

Check the manual too as sometimes if you add a certain weight over certain terrain you want to change the tyre pressures from their default.

 

[Dry Rot]

Thanks all - the Honda I am going to look at is 500cc and 4wd, but my land is very flat really. Taking a Man Who Knows with me - it had done just over 1600 miles but has had most of the engine rebuilt, we want to know why.
Dry Rot I have never had any problem buying herbicides, all I needed was a holding number but if I do find my local supplier being difficult I just got some off ebay for a neighbour. Who enforces the regulations, do you know?

http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/guidan...General/faq-agricultural-use-of-pesticides#Q2

Some farmers (couldn't guess who!) are stocking up and checking the times of the full moon for next year!