How to properly use a lawn/hose sprayer

Hi. As posted in another thread, I may need to spray for fungus.

I happen to already have this sprayer: Gilmour 362 Professional No Pre-Mix Sprayer

Let's say, just for example, that the fungicide I'm going to use says to put 1 oz / gallon.

Does the product also tell me how many gallons for my 20,000 square feet lawn?

Assuming it does, and I can figure out (for example) that I need 1oz/gallon, and 5 gallons (so 5 ounces in total), and I put the 5 ounces in the Gilmour and put the setting to 1 oz/gallon, what next? Do I just start spraying the yard and attempt cover the whole yard just as the 5 oz runs out?

Is it trial and error until I figure out how much to spray, how fast to walk, etc..??

Thanks so much!

 

I have never used a fungicide, but any other lawn products I have used, fertilizer, weed and feed, etc. have included instructions such as when and where to apply or not apply, as well as coverage. And my bet would be that any of the fungicides you find will include this same type of information. So the first thing would be to locate a product locally and read the label. You will also probably find additional information on their website. They may even have settings for at least the most popular sprayers. For instance, I have a Scott's spreader, and can find settings for fertilizer settings on most websites. Then, as a double check, I will make some rough measurements of a particular area, say it works out to half a bag, so I should use roughly half a bag for that area. In your case, at least starting out, say the coverage of your product is 5,000 square feet, so you start with a 50' x50' area, and should be about halfway through your solution at that point. It may take a little trial and error, but not that complicated once you have all of the facts in front of you.

 

I bought some herbicide recently and read every work on the fold-out label that came with it. I could not figure out how much I was supposed to apply to my lawn so I can believe you're having the same trouble. I like Pedro's advice about hitting their website.

FWIW, I guessed how to set the sprayer and ended up finishing the quart of herbicide just about the time I had the whole lawn covered. When there were weeds alive two weeks later which I figured should be dead, like dandelions, I came to the conclusion I did not apply enough and bought a gallon more of the herbicide and turned up the mixture on the sprayer and I ended up applying 2 1/2 quarts this time. Hence, a little trial and error can sometimes be required.

 

I was able to find the product label online, and it says to use 2 oz / 1,000 sq ft.

But the hose sprayer works in terms of product / gallon.

So I don't know how to covert the 2 oz / 1000 sq ft into gallons...

Must be trial and error like everyone is saying. I guess I'll fill up the sprayer with 2 ounces of water (pretending it's the fungicide) and then spray a mapped out portion of my yard (i.e. 1000 sq ft) and see how much of the 'product' is used. Then keep adjusting the hose sprayer until all 2 ounces are gone over the 1000 sq ft test area.

 

My best guess is I have 8,000 ft² of lawn. When I sprayed lightly with the sprayer set at 1 oz/gallon, I used 1 quart of product. When I bumped the solution up to 2 oz/gallon and sprayed a little more water all over, I used 2 1/2 quarts of product.

So, my math says I put about 4 oz/1000 ft² when I set the sprayer to 1 ounce per gallon and sprayed lightly.

 

It is difficult to apply chemicals accurately with a hose end sprayer. To get anywhere close you'll need to measure the flow (gallons per minute) of your sprayer and how much chemical it dispenses per minute. Then you can measure off area like 10' x 10' and know that you should spend 45 or 75 seconds spraying that area.