# Roundup applicator- My never ending battle  The



## Alittlerusty (Aug 1, 2017)

every summer I do battle with the weeds on my farm.  Bought this wiper from a local fab shop and For many years the wiper shown was a faithful workhorse and companion. It has  a 9 foot windshield wiper motor powered roller/applicator a 12 volt low pressure  chemical pump and bicycle tires. U fill the pump sprayer which is used for a reservoir for the pump add a freshly charged car battery will last about 6 hours on a full charge ( more than enuff to bring me to my knees) and pull it along behind you with the roller spinning to avoid drips and just keep  adding chemical to keep the roller as wet as possible without dripping. Works great when your young. Thankfully I'm abit older and wiser ( is that the same as being lazy?)now and this wiper lives on the wall now. It's  replacement is far superior and user friendly.


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## Alittlerusty (Aug 1, 2017)

I converted a dry chemical applicator I had into a wiper. I'll post more on this later but here's  a quick look. It's 26 feet wide and a ride on with 9 separate  application zones across the boom.


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## JPigg55 (Aug 1, 2017)

What ??? No pictures of the replacement ??? LOL
Oops, guess I jumped the gun.


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## markba633csi (Aug 1, 2017)

I was wondering why the roller and not just spray (obviously I'm not a large-scale farmer) the crop?  What crop is this for by the way? 
Also was wondering why you need so many individual valves and switches-?  Interesting corn-traption for sure. 
Have you had any weeds develop resistance to the Roundup?  I've heard it can be a problem after a few years. 
Mark S.


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## T. J. (Aug 1, 2017)

I'm not the OP, but the reason for a wiper is so that you can selectively apply the chemical to taller weeds without getting it on shorter grass. Roundup will kill the grass otherwise.   There are other chemicals that only kill broadleaf weeds and could be sprayed, but they have their own drawbacks as well.


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## Alittlerusty (Aug 1, 2017)

This is used on cranberry bogs to help manage the tall weeds above the cranberry canopy which is about 6" tall. I try to keep the roller as close to the top of the canopy as possible without touching it. Roundup is a broad spectrum non selective herbicide and literally smokes the cranberry vines if exposed to it. This is not like roundup ready corn where u just spray everything and it just kills the weeds. THis is why I have to use a roller applicator. I don't know of any weeds in Massachusetts cranberry that has developed resistance to roundup but u can be sure the industry is keeping an eye on the bigger picture here.i have a hydraulic piston to raise and lower the boom constantly while using it just trying to keep up with the contours of the ground. the original wiper had just one zone across the entire boom.  The weeds don't grow in nice orderly fashion,  they grow in patches and in varying density .  So this means most of the time with the single zone boom  one side of the boom is  saturated and one is too dry. This problem would have  increased 10 fold when I went with the 26 foot boom if I didn't go with the separate zone valves.


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