When getting a sprayer, I feel that one of the most important features is it’s ability or inability to atomize the solution into a fog. I have many hand and manual pump backpack sprayers and these spray the solution out in large particles that sprays outward from the pressure inside the pump and then they fall downward from gravity.
In order to spray the undersides of leaves, you need to invert the sprayer and it is extremely difficult to get full coverage of large trees because the lack of forward pressure makes it difficult to reach deep within trees. Because regular pump sprayers don’t atomize the particles like a fogger, it is extremely difficult to reach taller trees, especially the undersides of the upper canopy.
The large droplets of hand pump sprayers are significantly less efficient in terms of solution usage compared to foggers. The electric or gas foggers creates a cloud like fog that penetrates deep into the canopy and because the particles are atomized into a fog, the solution contacts the undersides of leaves and the canopy without having to contort your body or the sprayer.
Here is what my fogger looks like
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=32585.msg357305#msg357305I volunteer for elderly gardeners and with my electric fogger, the cost savings in saved solutions has already helped me to recover the cost of my fogger and then some, a lot actually.
Not only does it save me money but it takes maybe 1/3-1/4 the amount of time to do a yard compared to my old backpack pump sprayer.
Info on electric/gas fogger
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=26761.msg309874#msg309874Info on foliar feeding
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=241.0Simon