I received an email from a friend today who is hoping to upgrade to a sprayer that can be attached to his tractor. No matter what you choose to spray in the orchard, it will be primarily water, and water is heavy. “Pint’s a pound…” For years I used a 5-gallon back-pack sprayer. It worked, but I spent as much time refilling the tank as I did doing the actual spraying. And all that weight didn’t do my back any good.

As I expanded the orchard, I graduated to a 50-gallon sprayer that hung on the back of the tractor. That worked well, but 50 gallons is also not a lot of spray. And the 50-gallon sprayer had no agitator. The agitator mixes up the spray as you drive which is really helpful, if not essential. You don’t want to have half the orchard sprayed with water and the other sprayed with sludge.

Our 100 gallon Pak-tank that hangs off the back of our Kubota B3300SU (33 HP).

So I eventually upgraded to a 100 gallon “Pak-tank” with an agitator and a hand-operated spray-gun on a long hose. I purchased it from OESCO in western MA. Although it took some getting used to as there was definitely a learning curve, the sprayer is excellent and has served us well for the past seven or eight years. The folks at OESCO are really helpful; they guided me through installation and have been always available if I panic or have questions.