Ahh. Ok. Thanks for clarifying. When you said you use it with wettable powders… oh wait, wasn’t it @GrouchyOldMan who said he used wettable powders in his fogger? Maybe I asked the wrong person (you) about that.
But @HorseBadorites, that’s interesting. You soak your wettable powder, then strain it and use that. Neat idea. I wonder how effective the water is at “leaching” out some of the sulfur.
Thanks.
Enough to whack my pm problem. This is what I use.
What kinds of ipm spray do you use with this? I got some aphids outside & need to start weekly ipm.
I’ve used a neem oil extract, and cleaned out the unit after every use. Outdoors, I just knock of the aphids with a hose, or let the ladybugs get 'em.
Good info on sprayer types (piston vs. diaphragm): Piston Vs Diaphragm Backpack Sprayer: Choosing The Right One | Obsessed Lawn
Hey @Nitt great thread! I am working on integrating IPM spraying into my weekly routine. Currently using a spray bottle which the squeezing over and over again sucks. So was looking for a powered spray to help make the routine alittle easier. Started looking around and came across the electrostatic sprayers and thought “I wonder how that would work on plants” did a search on OG and boom here is a nice thread.
My major consideration is using a sprayer that will work with my IPM products. I use a few different products like horticultural oils, Spinosad, Purecrop1, Athena IPM. Possibly even wetable sulfur. You made a few comments that caught my eye about certain sprayers not being suitable for certain things like hort oils or sulfur.
Can you go into some more detail about why they don’t work? Is it strictly the micron size of the sprayer? I listened to the video you posted and it seemed like their 2 major considerations is tank agitation to always keep the solution well mixed and micron size of the specific chemical you are using for the specific pest. I was curious what your thought was on micron size for cannabis pest.
I am looking at these Ryobi electrostatic sprayers because I already have a Ryobi normal sprayer I use to water my plants and like it well enough. Plus already have like 3 batteries for the sprayer so that saves me money on just being able to buy the sprayer without the battery. I think the only differences on these are the tank size?
RYOBI 18V ONE+ ½ Gallon Electrostatic Sprayer
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Handheld Electrostatic Sprayer
The handheld sprayer has three micron spray heads:
50 micron
75 micron
100 micron
The 1/2 gallon one has:
65 micron
85 micron
160 micron
Is there a micron size that is best in your opinion? Is smaller allways better?
Also would you go for an electrostatic sprayer or stick with a traditional fogger/mister like this one:
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery Fogger/Mister
Is this one considered a ULV fogger as well? Are all foggers ULV? It gets a tad confusing lol.
Sorry for the late reply.
I probably couldn’t, honestly, because I don’t know anymore than I would’ve gotten from whichever videos/reading I posted, haha. I learned that the size of particle can affect both the coverage and the effectiveness of whatever product being used might have on whatever the target species is (bug or virus or …whatever). I didn’t get to into that part.
I don’t think smaller is always better. Some sprayer/fogger companies will have a chart or table to illustrates some information about pros and cons of micron sizes. Just one example is how long the droplets stay in the air. @budleydoright posted a picture of his room where he has a big industrial whole room “fogger”, where the room appeared to stay foggy with the particles (HOCl) staying suspended for several hours(!).
There are considerations to be made (maybe not in our use case so much as more harmful chemical “cleaner” or “disinfectants” used in commercial settings) regarding particles being too small, so that they can too easily enter the lungs (aveoli?) or something.
I think at least one claimed benefit of using a ULV fogger is the “ultra low volume” itself (using less product). Along with that is that you can possibly “spray” in settings where there may be electronics and not get things “wet”. Also just being able to fog the air, and have the product hang in the air to attack the target there, and not so much - or in addition(?) to on surfaces.
All foggers are not ULV. And all of the Electrostatic Sprayers/Foggers that I tried did not live up to their “electrostatic”, coverage on all sides, claims. I think maybe only the high end industrial electrostatic sprayers might be capable of this to whatever degree. I think I posted one, ESS or something. I think they might be one of the originators. They have some video demos on youtube of spraying an apple with something. I think other companies are just slapping the word electrostatic on their sprayers for marketing purposes.
I tried a Hoover brand one (someone else on OG had mentioned it). I returned it, but my unit didn’t even work. And another one that is a common style found on amazon, and it was lesser quality than a cheap water gun one might buy from a flea market or something. Total garbage. I don’t think either of them had a “fan” in addition to their “pump”, so their range would be limited. That might be a consideration, too.
I ended up with this one a VectorFog unit. The smaller corded one, the C20 I think. Their info on what can and can’t be used in them is contradicting.
But, I wouldn’t use something that’s a “suspension” in a fogger, ulv or otherwise. Eg: wettable sulfur powder in water. The powder has to get through whatever orifice size. It’ll probably get stuck in various places inside the machine, and also clog up the orifice, eventually at least. I’d make JADAM Sulfur if you wanna spray it with a machine like this. But I’d still double check that the sulfur itself won’t harm the machine somehow. And also fill it with plain water after use, and run that through for a minute or more.
I only bought mine for HOCl. And incase I wanted to use JADAM Sulfur later.
Another one that I’ve come all the way back to is the Petra Tools “Cannafogger” (or any of it’s similar models with slight variances; two others I at least), it just seems quite expensive for what it is.
That’s all I can think of right now. Hope some of that helps.
Quick EDIT: I also hate the constant trigger sprayer squeezing. I looked into quality trigger sprayers that can be sprayed upside down, eg: IK brand, and Birchmeyer or “meier”, can’t remember. I found the IK in the auto detailing world. I had a Birchmeier Foxy Plus, wettable sulfur absolutely destroyed it (it deposits itself everywhere). And the HOCl (500ppm, homemade) rusted the stainless (I think, and hope) steel weight at the bottom of the pickup tube. Wettable sulfur also destroyed a Solo brand 1Gal pump sprayer I had. It corroded the metal in the extendable “wand” part. It also kinda “stuck” to the diaphragm flap on the bottom of the piston. There are two different types, at least, of pump sprayer too - now that I think of it. One can handle suspension better than the other. You’ll have to check that out - I can’t remember.
I came across some battery powered hand held “trigger sprayer” sized devices too. IK makes one, and Solo makes one that is pretty loved by the auto detail industry. It supposedly has quality materials (Viton seals, and o-rings?). Which is another big point to mention; I’ve been searching for sprayers that have the right materials for the products being used. For example, if you go to the Birchmeier site, and go to their trigger or handheld sprayer “products” page, you can see there is filters on the left where you can select products based on “pH” of chemical being used in the.
IK has a table of what sprayer can handle what types of products (acids, bases, solvents, etc.) too. I was told by a online detailing store that “the IK multi 360 mini” would be good for my use of HOCl. But I didn’t get one. I saw a review where someone had their pickup tube go hard from using something seemingly common in the auto detailing world. I duno about that.
