5 Best ATV Sprayer Attachments for Weed Control
Effectively manage weeds on small acreage with the right tool. We review the 5 best ATV sprayer attachments for efficient spot and broadcast applications.
You spend an hour wrestling with a 4-gallon backpack sprayer, refilling it three times just to cover a quarter-acre patch of thistle, and your back is screaming. By the time you’re done, the wind has picked up, and you’re not even sure you got even coverage. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to realize that managing a few acres requires a different class of tool. An ATV sprayer isn’t a luxury; it’s a fundamental piece of equipment for taking control of your property without sacrificing your weekends or your body.
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Why an ATV Sprayer Beats a Backpack Sprayer
The most obvious advantage is scale. A backpack sprayer holds 3-5 gallons, while a basic ATV sprayer starts at 15 gallons. That means you spend more time spraying and dramatically less time walking back to the barn to mix another batch. For anything over a single acre, the time savings alone justify the investment.
But it’s not just about capacity. Consistency is where an ATV sprayer really proves its worth. Maintaining a steady walking pace while managing a wand is difficult, leading to stripes of over-applied and under-applied chemicals. An ATV moves at a more constant speed, ensuring a far more even application rate. This means better weed kill, less wasted herbicide, and a healthier pasture or plot.
Finally, there’s the element of safety and operator comfort. An ATV-mounted tank keeps the chemicals further away from your body, reducing direct exposure. You’re sitting and driving, not hauling 40 pounds on your shoulders in the summer heat. This makes a big job feel manageable instead of monumental.
Key Features: Pump Type, Tank Size, and Nozzles
When you start looking at sprayers, you’ll see two main pump types: diaphragm and demand. Diaphragm pumps are more durable and can handle more abrasive chemicals or wettable powders without damage. Demand pumps, which turn on when the pressure drops, are simpler and more common on smaller units, working perfectly well for most liquid herbicides.
Tank size is a balancing act. It’s tempting to buy the biggest tank you can find, but that’s not always the right move. A full 25-gallon tank adds over 200 pounds to your ATV’s rear rack, which can seriously affect handling and stability, especially on hills. For 1-5 acres, a 15 to 25-gallon tank is often the sweet spot, offering a good balance of capacity and maneuverability.
The business end of the sprayer is the nozzle system. You’ll find three main setups:
- Booms: These have multiple nozzles on arms that extend out to the sides. They offer the most precise, uniform coverage, ideal for lawns or flat, open fields.
- Boomless Nozzles: A single or double nozzle sprays a wide, fan-shaped pattern. They are fantastic for rough terrain with trees and fences where a boom would snag and break.
- Spot Wand: A handgun-style sprayer on a long hose. This is non-negotiable for hitting fencelines, spot-treating individual weeds, or spraying in tight spaces the ATV can’t reach. The best units offer both a broadcast option and a wand.
NorthStar 26-Gallon Boomless Broadcast Sprayer
If your property is a typical mix of open patches, wooded edges, and rough trails, a boomless sprayer is your best friend. The NorthStar 26-gallon unit is a workhorse built for exactly this kind of environment. Its main advantage is having no boom arms to catch on low-hanging branches or fence posts, saving you endless frustration and repair bills.
This model is built around NorthStar’s own NSQ Series pump, which is known for its reliability and chemical resistance. The boomless nozzle can cast a spray pattern up to 30 feet wide, allowing you to cover ground quickly in pastures or clearings. It also includes a spot sprayer with a 15-foot hose, giving you the versatility to handle both broadcast and targeted applications from one machine.
Think of this as the ultimate generalist. It may not provide the perfectly uniform pattern of a boom sprayer for a pristine lawn, but for the varied landscape of most hobby farms, its durability and flexibility are far more valuable. It’s the right tool for reclaiming overgrown fields and keeping trails clear.
Fimco 25-Gallon Sprayer with 7-Nozzle Boom
For those who need precision, the Fimco 25-gallon boom sprayer is the standard. This is the tool for establishing a new pasture, managing a large lawn, or applying herbicides and liquid fertilizers to a food plot. The 7-nozzle boom ensures an exact, overlapping spray pattern for complete coverage with minimal waste.
The key feature here is the 12-foot spray width delivered with predictable accuracy. The boom arms fold up and back for transport, a critical design element that helps prevent damage when moving between fields. A pressure gauge is also standard, which is essential for proper calibration and ensuring you’re applying chemicals at the rate specified on the label.
The tradeoff for this precision is a vulnerability to obstacles. This is absolutely the wrong sprayer for weaving through an orchard or spraying a tight fenceline. But if your primary need is treating a flat, open area where you can drive in straight lines, a boom sprayer like the Fimco will deliver professional-grade results.
Workhorse 15-Gallon Spot Sprayer for Fencelines
Sometimes, the mission isn’t to spray an entire field but to wage a targeted war. For battling invasive vines along a stone wall, killing weeds popping through a gravel driveway, or controlling poison ivy along a tree line, a dedicated spot sprayer is the right tool. The Workhorse 15-gallon unit is built for exactly this kind of focused work.
The smaller 15-gallon tank keeps the ATV light and nimble, allowing you to get into tighter spots. The focus here is less on the tank and more on the delivery system: a high-quality spray wand and a generous hose length. This lets you park the ATV and walk 15-20 feet to treat specific problem plants without having to constantly reposition the machine.
This is not a broadcast sprayer. Trying to cover even half an acre with just the wand will result in a patchy, uneven mess and take forever. But as a companion to a larger sprayer, or for properties where weed pressure is confined to edges and structures, its simplicity and effectiveness are hard to beat.
Chapin 97600 15-Gallon Mixes On Exit System
Spray efficiently with the Chapin 97361: its dual tank design mixes concentrate on demand, eliminating premixing. Featuring a 15-gallon water tank, quick connect pump, and triple filtration, this USA-made sprayer easily attaches to your ATV/UTV.
The biggest hassle of spraying is often the cleanup and the commitment of mixing a full tank. The Chapin Mixes On Exit system offers a clever solution. Instead of mixing the chemical and water in the main tank, you fill the main 15-gallon tank with plain water and put concentrated herbicide in a separate, smaller tank.
The system automatically mixes the two as you spray, based on a dial you set. This means the main tank never gets contaminated, making cleanup as simple as rinsing it with water. It also gives you incredible flexibility; you can stop spraying with a half tank of water, switch the concentrate, and start a different job without having to drain and triple-rinse the whole system.
This convenience does come with a small tradeoff. The calibration can be slightly less precise than a carefully measured batch mix, and it adds a layer of mechanical complexity. However, for the hobby farmer who frequently switches between different products or hates dealing with leftover mixed chemicals, this system is a brilliant time-saver.
Master Manufacturing 40-Gallon Sprayer for Pastures
When you graduate from a couple of acres to managing five, ten, or more, your biggest bottleneck becomes refill time. A 40-gallon sprayer like those from Master Manufacturing is designed to maximize your efficiency at this scale. Carrying 40 gallons means you can spray a full two acres at a 20-gallon-per-acre rate before heading back to re-fill.
These larger units are built for high output. They feature higher-flow pumps and often come with versatile boom or boomless nozzle kits to match their capacity. This is the right choice for maintaining large pastures, hayfields, or multiple large food plots where covering ground quickly is the top priority.
Be honest about your equipment, though. A full 40-gallon tank weighs over 330 pounds. This requires a mid-size or larger utility ATV (think 450cc and up) to handle the weight safely. Putting this on a small, recreational quad is asking for trouble, as it will make the machine dangerously unstable, especially on any kind of slope.
Calibrating Your Sprayer for Accurate Application
Buying a great sprayer is pointless if you don’t know how much you’re putting down. Calibration is the single most important step for effective and responsible weed control. It ensures you’re applying enough chemical to work without wasting money or, worse, damaging your soil and environment with over-application.
Forget complex math. The easiest way is to measure a test area that is 1/128th of an acre—that’s a space 17 feet by 20.5 feet. Fill your sprayer with plain water, spray that test area at your normal driving speed and pressure, and then use a measuring cup to determine exactly how many ounces of water you used. That number of ounces is equal to your application rate in gallons per acre. If you used 20 ounces, your rate is 20 gallons per acre.
Once you know your gallons-per-acre rate, you can read the herbicide label and mix your tank with confidence. Taking 15 minutes to calibrate your sprayer before you start is the difference between guessing and knowing. It’s a simple process that pays for itself immediately in better results and saved chemical costs.
Choosing the right ATV sprayer comes down to matching the machine to your land and your goals. Whether you need the precision of a boom for a food plot or the rugged flexibility of a boomless nozzle for rough pasture, the right tool transforms weed control from a dreaded chore into a manageable task. It’s a key investment that buys you time and empowers you to be a better steward of your small acreage.
