Do You Really Need that Electric Sprayer for Your Garden?

If you do as much gardening as I do, there is no doubt you do a lot of spraying in some form or other. Most sprayers are simple mechanical devices consisting of a hand or wheel pump, a tank for holding the liquid, a nozzle, trigger, and hose. These are small hand-held devices usually, but some come on a cart. The other option for a sprayer is as an attachment to your garden hose. The attachment can be filled with liquid or powder, depending on the unit and the pressure of the water draws the other liquid or powder into the stream, or it forces the water in a small container to bring it out into the stream. What a lot of gardeners have done, in the interest of going "high tech," is buy into the new electric sprayers. While it may seem like an excellent option at first, many have found that there can be a few problems with using the electric sprayers. In this article, we are going to take a look at the pros and cons of the electric garden sprayer.

Pros:

1. The electric sprayer comes in many varieties, including large, wheeled tanks. These large sprayers would be extremely difficult and time-consuming to use if you had to manually pump a 25 gallon tank. These large sprayers rely on electric motors to pressurize the tank.

2. Electric sprayers are easy to use and require no effort to pressurize. Pump sprayers require quite a bit of pumping to release the full contents of the tank.

3. Some electric sprayers can be set on a timer, which means it can run automatically. You don't even have to be there.

Cons:

1. Electric sprayers often run only on batteries. Batteries are extra expense that is not necessary with pump sprayers.

2. Some electric sprayers are corded which means that your area of effect is only as long as the cord.

3. A constant supply of electricity is needed. If the battery dies or you have no electricity in the area, the job may end prematurely.

4. Electric motors require maintenance. Electric sprayers no not last nearly as long as a manually pumped sprayer.

5. Some electric sprayers have replaced the trigger mechanism with a button. The button is not nearly as easy to hold down as a trigger and will cause fatigue in your hands.

6. Some electric sprayers are very bulky, especially the large tank units. Bulky units may not be able to reach into narrow patches and tight spaces.

7. Electric sprayers, depending on the strength of the motor, do not always provide a uniform spray or the best pressurization for range.

As you can see, there are a lot of cons to the electric sprayer and hardly and pros. If you simply MUST have the looks of a modern gardener, go ahead and purchase one. I, personally would only recommend the electric sprayer if you have a large area and a need for a 25 gallon tank.