Careful shipping helped Jim Facemire, Edinburgh, find a set of four flotation tires and wheels for his John Deere 4830 sprayer out of a dealer in Iowa at a reasonable price. The sprayer, which he bought this winter through an online auction, came with narrow tires and wheels for post-emergence applications.

Those will go back on, Faemire says. But they wanted wider tires for preemergence applications of herbicide and 38% N when field conditions might not be as ideal. The original narrow tires will help him avoid as much crop damage a possible when post spraying soybeans later this year.

Apply at an angle: Jim Facemire set his A-B line to apply at an angle to come out better with field boundaries in this preemerge application after planting. He also feels that it probably was better than running straight over single rows.

Buying a major implement online was a new experience, he says. He visited with the dealer who had the unit for sale, and priced comparable used units available from other dealers before deciding to bid. He also inquired about exactly what features were on the sprayer. This one was equipped with auto-boom adjust, section of boom control, auto-steer and other amenities.

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He pulled a sprayer before but decided it was time to step up to a self-propel model to cover more acreage more quickly. The pull-behind sprayer did a good job, he says, but was simply not as convenient because it meant having two implements to worry about – the tractor and the sprayer – instead of one.

With swath control when he's doing pre-emergence applications, he can set an A-B line and then when he turns on the ends the sprayer will pick up the next pass.

This sprayer is equipped with 100-foot-wide booms. He uses Sat II service for satellite differential correction, and is convinced it is plenty accurate enough for spraying operations. He still avoids overlap or spots that get skipped and not sprayed. A color monitor shows him what is sprayed and what is left to spray, so if a part is not sprayed, it would show up on the screen.

Are you confident in preparing your sprayer for the season ahead? Do you know how to best minimize herbicide spray drift? Brush up with our free report, Best Practices For Spraying: Get The Most Out Of Your Sprayer