Agitator for spray tank?

I recently built a boom sprayer for my money pit, err, I mean dove field. It's a 55 gallon drum mounted in a frame of 2x4's that supports it about 6" off the bottom of a cart. Under the drum is a 2.8 gpm 12volt pump with the appropriate hoses and fittings to pump the liquid out to the 6 nozzles on the boom.

It should take no longer than 20 minutes for the pump to completely empty the 55 gallon tank. My water supply (garden hose) is about 3 minutes away from the field. I'll probably only be filling it with 40~50 gallons of water at a time.

Do I need some sort of agitator to keep the chemical evenly dispersed in the tank? Or will the relatively quick fill and spray until empty method be acceptable? The tank and contents will sort of be jostled and splashed around just by moving it while spraying. I plan to use it for treflan in the next month and probably glyphosate and liquid fertilizer sometime down the road. The treflan label said it needed to be agitated, but I wonder if it's absolutely necessary.

Hopefully the pic or link will show on this post.

Thanks.

• sprayer

As paul said make sure you use equipment and herbicide/pesticides as described. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW THE LABELS. REMEMBER THAT LABEL IS THE LAW, PERIOD.

Also here in FL in order to purchase various herbicides/pesticides you must take a class to become certified. I am in the process of doing this right now. Below I have provided a link below from U of F (GO GATORS!) which should help you.

FWIW

• University of FL - sprayer & calibration stuff

I got rid of that, but kept the boom and bought a new pump and new tips. I'm using red TeeJet fan nozzles now. They are rated for .40 gpm @ 40 psi, and .45 gpm @ 50 psi. I didn't just go out and buy the first 6 spray tips I could find. I picked the one that came the closest to my pump volume and pressure. Each one has a 50 mesh strainer.

My new pump is 45 psi and 2.8 gpm, and I have 6 nozzles. So that would mean I have an extra .25 gpm in capacity to pump back into the tank for agitation, right?

I'm using 3/4" tubing from the tank to the pump, and from the pump to the T fitting in the middle. The rest is 3/8".

The local co-op has boom sprayers. But the treflan has to be worked into the soil within 24 hours of application. If I applied the herbicide to my field with the sprayer from the co-op, I'd probably be out there with my small disk for about 24 hours before it was all worked in. I didn't want to do that, that's why I built the sprayer.

Please do this proper. It affects all of us. Aggitate. Regulate pressure.

--->Paul

Adjusting pressure is one of the simplest ways of making minor adjustments in spray volume. Since your pump may put out more or less that the stated rating, an adjustable pressure valve with a by-pass is normally used in the piping system. A by-pass line returns the unused, over pressure portion of the spray to the tank. On the end of this line is usually a device that forces the spray in different directions causing tank agitation or constant mixing of the fluid.

I really doubt that your pump will put out the exact rating from full tank to empty tank. It would take great precision to match the six spray tips to the exact output of the pump. I would recommend a by-pass system as stated.