NorthStar High pressure tree/orchard sprayer.
I purchased this NorthStar High Pressure Tree and Orchard Sprayer to use around the nursery for spraying and watering plants in remote areas where there is no easy way to get water to them. I’ll pull it behind the ATV.
There are a lot of other pull behind sprayers on the market, some sold locally in farm supply stores but I didn’t go that route for a number of reasons.
- Some of the things that I’ve purchased at discount farm supply stores are of such poor quality I just didn’t want to deal with that with an expensive purchase. I can’t even buy tires and wheels for a simple garden cart that will hold up for even half a season. They are terrible. That’s what drove me to look elsewhere.
- I did a lot of searching before making this purchase and I watched a video of a guy spraying with one of the more readily available low pressure sprayers and the spray stream coming from the spray nozzle appeared to be about the same amount of volume and pressure that I get from a cheap hardware store pump sprayer. I thought to myself; “I’ll die of old age before I get everything sprayed with that thing.” I’m not exactly the most patient person on the planet. I’ll happily spend more to get the job done sooner.
- When I looked at the various sprayers available I looked at the close up photos of the spray nozzles and this one appeared to be much higher quality than the others.
- I also felt that the quality of the 12 volt pump appeared to be much better than the lower priced, or low pressure models.
Driven by those facts I opted to by this particular sprayer. When it arrived I was more than a little concerned because the box was in such bad shape it looked like UPS drug behind the truck the whole way here. It obviously been taped up with about 300 miles of tape before it left the warehouse and that deeply concerned me. It looked as if it had been opened and shipped back before it was sent to me. So I opened the packaged with deep concern. I would not have been happy if I had been sent a pre-owned piece of equipment.
As I pulled things out of the box I was looking for evidence that somebody had in fact gone through these parts before me, but I don’t believe that was the case. All of the inside packaging was clearly intact and everything was there.
I found the instruction manual for assembly very easy to follow, unlike the instructions for the ATV Cultivator I Put Together the day before. Those instructions we a bit iffy, but it was easy enough to figure out.
NorthStar High Pressure tree/orchard sprayer.
As I assembled this sprayer I have to say that I was happy/impressed with the quality. It appeared to be well made for what really is a low priced field sprayer.
In the above photo you can see the boom sprayers that are supposed to be attached to the back of the sprayer but I opted not to install them because I really have no need for that kind of spraying. All of the spraying that I will do will be done with the hose and spray nozzle.
With the boom sprayers installed these is simply a valve on the pump to allow flow to the boom sprayers. You can turn the spray off and on via the remote switch while operating the ATV. Some have complained that the wires are not quite long enough, so far I don’t see that as in issue and if it were that would be very easy to fix.
Here’s a short movie of me demonstrating the sprayer and explaining some of it’s components. Be sure to watch it.
I hope this was useful if you are in the market for such a sprayer.
Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I’ll respond.
Sprayer is great. Till you have to replace the pump. My sprayer is 7 yrs old. This year the pump would not turn on at all. I winterize it religiously. Cost of replacement pump almost the same as sprayer. Bought a different sprayer half the price of the pump replacement.
Alan,
I feel your frustration but does that new sprayer deliver that same pressure. All the ones that I looked at did not.
Do you know if this pump can handle wettable powder chemicals?
Dan,
I actually used a wet-able powder with mine. Just mix it well before you turn on the pump and it should be fine. Most wet able powders mix quite easily.
I love this artical. I use my North Star on peach and apple trees and have never had a problem with it. I use all types of chemicals in it including wetables and granules and it hasn’t let me down in 5 years of use.
Thanks Tom, it is a nice sprayer.
Thanks for your review. This appears to be the sprayer I’ve been looking for. Since your post is one year old, I’m curious if you’re still satisfied with the product and if you’ve had any issues / problems with it. Thanks for sharing your experience!
James,
I like the sprayer, I think it’s far better than all of the other comparable tow behind small sprayers. The pressure is what makes the difference. I added onto the hose and put a quick disconnect on it so I could disconnect the hose to re-fill the sprayer.
Just discovered your blog and am looking forward to follow you. I don’t follow many so that is a compliment ☺️. This year we purchased the North Star ATV sprayer for spraying weeds along our 22 acre fence line. I put it in a trailer attached to my garden tractor. We also purchased a regulator to attach to it to control the flow. It has been a great product and I was glad to read (and see the video) about the orchard sprayer. Thanks for your post. I am looking forward to reading all the ones I missed.
Thanks Kathi, welcome aboard!
Hmm it seems like your website ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess
I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I as well am an aspiring blog writer but
I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any points for inexperienced blog writers?
I’d really appreciate it.
Karissa,
Sure, be interesting and helpful and be prolific.
Can any one tell me if I can add colored mulch in my vegetable patch to control the weed? someone told me that I cannot do this as it would poison the vegetables can someone help thank you joe
Joe,
I don’t think the color mulch will harm the plants but it’s all wood and not good for the soil. A shredded bark mulch like hardwood bark mulch would be better. Bark mulches are 100% bark and there is nutrition in tree bark, unlike the wood of a tree which robs the soil of nitrogen. Color mulch is basically ground up pallets.