When it comes to field-spraying projects, Jeremiah Kanderka has found that bigger isn’t necessarily better.
The general manager for Alberta-based Greentech Environmental Solutions says that in the past year they have moved away from using high-clearance 120-foot wide TerraGator field sprayers to much more compact units.
For the 2022 growing season they are providing weed control services on range and pastureland across much of central Alberta using John Deere side-by-side utility vehicles outfitted with sprayer equipment.
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These smaller units, which can cover nearly 40 acres per hour, are much better suited to smaller range and pastureland spraying projects, says Kanderka, who is based in Crossfield, just north of Calgary.
“We found that for a lot of projects we were spraying 50, or 80 or perhaps 100 acres, but we really didn’t need those high-clearance sprayers. On a 60-acre field, for example, it might only take about 17 minutes to apply a herbicide with the high-clearance sprayer and then if you had to switch products it would take about two hours to rinse the machine, and that time and cost add up.”
Outfitted sprayers
So in the company shop during the winter of 2021/2022 Kanderka outfitted three John Deere XUV835M crossover utility vehicles to field sprayers. Two of the machines are four-wheel drive, while the third runs on tracks.
With components such as wiring harness, and software sourced from John Deere as well as other suppliers, Kanderka says it took a bit of time to get all materials assembled and installed, but “it is all very doable, and when you don’t need the sprayer, the tank and sprayer slip out and you can use the utility vehicle for other chores.”
With the side-by-side equipped with a GPS receiver, other features include autosteer and MTG (Modular Telematics Gateway) a mobile communications and processing platform with dual-band wireless that allows the sprayer unit to communicate with other field equipment.
The completed unit includes a 100-gallon tank to hold chemical and water, which will cover 20 acres per fill applying product at the five-gallon rate. The sprayer has a 45-foot wide boom with sectional controls, which folds and unfolds manually and can cover about 37 acres per hour. And there is also a hose reel if the operator needs to walk to perform some spot spraying.
The software package also makes it possible for the sprayer to do boundary mapping as well as internal field mapping (mapping any field obstacles), which is useful data for the producer and/or their agronomist.
“For smaller farms and smaller fields it is nice compact unit that gets the job done,” says Kanderka.
He says it is a particularly good fit for applying pre-seeding burnoff products and applying herbicides on range and pastureland. And it has a considerable cost savings — a new high clearance sprayer can easily be in the $700,000 range, whereas a new side-by-side outfitted with sprayer components is less than $90,000.
Kanderka says while his plan isn’t to custom-build sprayers, he hopes this example is of value for producers to know the components are all quite accessible if they want to build their own.
For more information on Greentech Environmental Solutions visit greentechenviro.com.
