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Hose End Sprayer

How to Use Hose End Sprayers

How to Use a Hose-end Sprayer

Hose-end sprayers are a great tool for spraying liquid garden and lawn products. You need to know a little bit about how they work or you will undoubtedly have a problem with over or under-applying your products.

 

Hose End Sprayer Available At Lowe's

Hose-end sprayer application is very simple. You have a spray head applicator that screws onto both the top of a bottle and onto your garden hose. A small hole has been made underneath the spray head, and a siphon tube is snugly connected over this hole. The siphon tube goes into the bottle, which contains the liquid product. 

When you turn the sprayer on, water passes through the spray head on top of the bottle and shoots out the other end. As the water moves through the top of the spray head, it creates suction or vacuum that siphons the liquid product up the tube to the top of the spray head. There, and not in the bottle, it mixes with the hose water and is sprayed out. Most hose-end sprayers have a knob or button that allows you to close off the hole on the siphon tube so you can spray water only if desired. 

The size of the hole underneath the spray head will determine how many ounces (or teaspoons) of liquid product is to be siphoned up for every gallon of water that you spray. Sprayers will have either just one hole underneath, or they will have multiple holes (or settings) that you can utilize.

Adjustable hose-end sprayers have a dial on top that allows you to choose from multiple hole sizes, ranging from as low as 1 teaspoon per gallon to 8 oz. per gallon. 

Pre-set or Fixed Ratesprayers are usually found on RTU (Ready-To-Use) products. There is just one hole in the spray head so it always siphons out at the same rate. The only way to change the rate of siphoning would be to put reducer-tip at the end of the siphon tube.

APPLYING THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF YOUR PRODUCT

Most garden product labels will recommend applying a certain amount of the product per every 1000 sf. But all hose-end sprayers are set up to siphon out in ouncesper gallon- notounces per 1000 sf. So, how do you go about getting the right amount of ounces per 1000 sq. ft. applied?

The key fact you need to know about hose-end sprayers is this:

The amount of product that gets sprayed out on a lawn is determined by both the sprayer hole (oz per gal) setting, and by how many gallons of water you actually spray on the lawn as you do an application.  Moreover, because everyone walks at a different speed, sprays a wider or narrower swath and has different water pressure, there is always going to be some trial and error when using a hose-end sprayer.

Here is our advice on how to apply products with either a fixed rate sprayer or an adjustable hose-end sprayer:

Before you start spraying, get an approximate idea of the total area (in square feet) that is going to be sprayed. Walk it off heel-to-toe if necessary and measure length and width to get the area. Multiply the length x width to get the total area, figure out how much of the product you should use. For example, if your yard is 4,000 sq. ft. and you want to apply a product at 4 oz. per 1000 sq. ft. rate, you want to use 16 oz total on your lawn.

Attach your garden hose to the sprayer. Turn your water on at about ½ to ¾ pressures for best functioning of the sprayer. You can turn the sprayer to the Water Only setting while you get the pressure right.

If you are using a fixed rate sprayer, turn the sprayer to ON (MIX). If you are using an adjustable sprayer, set it to 1 oz per gallon Walk at a slow to normal pace moving your wrist side to side enough to spray a 6'-8' wide swath over the lawn (or gardens). Spray enough to make sure all areas get wet on top. You do not have to soak these areas at this time. You can water it in later.

After you have sprayed a small area, say ¼ or ½ of the lawn stop and checkto see how much of the product you have used up. Figure out if you have sprayed too much or too little based on how much area has been treated. For example, if you have treated about 2000 sq. ft. and you want to apply at 4 oz. per 1000 sq. ft., you should have used approximately 8 oz. (or 1 cup) of the product.

If you have used too little, you need to walk at a slower pace when spraying and/or spray a narrower swath. If you are using an adjustable sprayer you can simply increase the spray setting and walk exactly like you did the first time. Test another area re-adjust as needed.

If you have used too much, you need to walk faster and/or spray a wider swath. If you are using an adjustable sprayer you can turn it down to a lower setting.  

If nothing or very little has come out of the sprayer check to see that the siphon tube is still connected. If there is a filter tip on the end of the tube, make sure it is not clogged (soaking it in club soda will remove clogs).

As we said, there is always some trial and error when you spray with a hose-end sprayer. Even commercial lawn spray technicians have practice and make adjustments to get their walking speed and spray pattern down correctly. It gets easier after you have done it once or twice.

About the Author

The author has been involved in lawn care for over 25 years.  Owns and operates Stout Services Lawn Care Plus in South Carolina. 

He can be contacted at (843) 639-5229 or emailed at store@swstout.com.

Product Web Site: http://www.theorganiclawncarestore.com/

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