Orchard Sprayer- remove poison?

[Anonymous-0]

I have an old Orchard Sprayer I would like to use to water my vegetable crops. Can the poison residue be removed or neutralized?

 

[Cue P.]

A good pressure washing or wash with soap and water and hose rinse should be fine for the tank. Pesticides do not have a long potency when diluted and exposed to the elements. I'd be more worried if it was ever used for herbicides but again, a good washing out should solve the problem.

 

[paul]

Fill it with water & spray it out maybe 2 times.

The ag section of a 'fleet & farm' type store will have a bottle of neutralizer that you use the 3rd time, follow the simple instructions - basically get it mixed up, let it set overnight or so.

Instead of the neutralizer, you can use a bottle of cleanning ammonia - works just as well. Dump into the sprayer with water, let it aggitate, let it sit a few hours, aggitate it again, and spray it out.

Time also helps, if it sat around for a year or 3, these sprays do break down on their own over time.

If it was just used for spraying bugs, it shouldn't be any problem at all really. If it was used for weed killers, you do need to get it rinsed out like above - garden stuff can be a little sensitive to weed killers.

That will get you good to go unless you are trying to qualify for some special tag - Certified Organic, Naturally Grown, etc.