Fertilizer Sprayers/Farming Simulator 17
A Fertilizer Sprayer (not to be confused with a Fertilizer Spreaders) are a type of equipment that can cover a field with Liquid Fertilizer. This nearly doubles (+90%) the field's crop yield with sufficient applications.
There are six fertilizer sprayers in the base game. In addition, the game offers two expansion tanks, one specifically designed to work only with the Amazone UF 1201 sprayer and the other to work only with Metris 4102 sprayer. They are listed in the sprayer category in the shop.
The Kuhn DLC adds 2 fertilizer sprayers and 1 liquid fertilizer tank. The Platinum Expansion adds 1 fertilizer sprayer.
List of Fertilizer Sprayers
| Spreader | Price ($) |
Maintenance ($ / day) |
Capacity (liters) |
Working Width (m) |
Max. Working Speed (km/h) |
Front Hitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazone UF 1201 | 24,000 | 80 | 1,200 | 15.0 | 12 | Three-point hitch |
| Caruelle-Nicolas Stilla 460 | 71,000 | 220 | 4,600 | 28.0 | 12 | Drawbar (Ball) |
| New Holland SP.400F | 237,000 | 790 | 6,057 | 36.0 | 12 | N/A |
| Kuhn Deltis 1302 MEA3 (KUHN DLC only) |
30,000 | 80 | 1300 | 21.0 | 12 | Three-point hitch |
| Kuhn Metris 4102 (KUHN DLC only) |
84,000 | 200 | 4100 | 36.0 | 12 | Drawbar (Ball) |
| Stara Imperador 3.0 (Platinum Expansion only) |
195,000 | 550 | 5100 | 27.0 | 12 | N/A |
Liquid Fertilizer Tanks
| Tank | Price ($) |
Maintenance ($ / day) |
Capacity (liters) |
Front Hitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazone FT 1001 | 5,500 | 10 | 1,125 | Three-point hitch |
| Kuhn PF 1500 (KUHN DLC only) |
8,000 | 5 | 1500 | Three-point hitch |
Overview
Fertilizer Sprayers are machines that can be filled up with Liquid Fertilizer, and then taken to a field where they will distribute it onto the soil. The fertilizer material itself is a mix of mineral compounds that are highly nutritious to plants. Any patch of field sufficiently covered with this material will yield double the normal amount of fruit, when harvested.
There are six fertilizer sprayers available in the game. The other pieces of equipment listed under the "Sprayers" category at the shop are expansion tanks that can be used in conjunction with an actual sprayer to increase the liquid fertilizer capacity and have no function of their own. A fertilizer sprayer consists primarily of a large tank that can be attached to a Tractors.
There are three varieties of fertilizer sprayers. The smallest variety attach direct to the tractor via three-point hitch and carried by the tractor without touching the ground. The medium-sized variety attach to the tractor via drawbar (ball) and have a single axle. The large variety have their own cab for a driver and are self-propelled, thus not requiring use of a separate tractor.
Fertilizer sprayers have a tank with two long metal arms that must be unfolded before use. Hoses run down these arms and take fertilizer from the tank, then push it through nozzles on the undersides of the arms. These nozzles spray the fertilizer down onto the soil.
Fertilizer Sprayers must be filled with liquid fertilizer in order to work. Several pallets of this type of fertilizer are pre-staged on the farm. Additional liquid fertilizer must be purchased from the shop in pallet form. It is suggested that the pallets me moved to farm or other centralized point for refilling the sprayer easier. To load liquid fertilizer into a fertilizer sprayer, move the sprayer near the pallet and press the assigned key to reload it. Fertilizer sprayers may also be filled from pallets which are on trucks or trailers.
Once dragged out to a field, unfolded, and activated, the Fertilizer Sprayer will continuously expend its supply of fertilizer. Any ground directly underneath the spray nozzles will become fertilized instantly. Fertilizer sprayers do not care whether the ground they are working has already been fertilized -- they will continue expending Liquid Fertilizer until they are turned off.
A fertilizer sprayer can cover an entire field very rapidly, due to its large working width. If not wasted inappropriately, 2,000 liters of liquid fertilizer should be enough to work about 3 hectares of land
Compared to other types of fertilization machines, fertilizer sprayers work very quickly and efficiently on small fields, and use up less costly fertilizer than fertilizer spreaders. On the other hand, the small capacity of the less expensive sprayers may leave something to be desired on larger fields, where refilling may be required.
Filling with Fertilizer
Once a Fertilizer Sprayer has been attached to a towing vehicle, it needs to be filled with liquid fertilizer before it can start working.
Filling can only occur at blue fertilizer pallets. To fill the Fertilizer Sprayer, tow it right up next to the pallet, and hit the refill button. Refilling will automatically stop when the tank is full or if sprayer is pulled away from the tank. Refilling can also be stopped manually by pressing the refill button again.
Liquid Fertilizer is always available, an important advantage over slurry and manure.
Fertilizing the Field
As long as the fertilizer sprayer's tank contains at least 1 liter of liquid fertilizer, and is attached to a towing vehicle, it can be activated.
As soon as the Sprayer is activated, it will immediately begin dispensing Fertilizer within its working area. It will expend 4.8 liters of Fertilizer per second, until it runs out. The Fertilizer Sprayer does not care whether it is currently on a field, nor whether that field is already fertilized - it will continue expending its fertilizer until turned off.
The working area of the Fertilizer Sprayer is a line underneath the machine's unfolded arms - it works pretty much the same as sowing machines and other field equipment in this regard, making it very easy to figure out where the fertilizer will go when you turn the machine on, and makes it easier for Hired Workers to get full field coverage. Any piece of field within that working area will instantly become fertilized. A piece of field that was already fertilized does not gain any additional benefit from being fertilized again within the same growth stage, but the Fertilizer Sprayer does not care - it will expend fertilizer anyway.
Fertilization can be performed at any time, but will only affect the next crop that becomes ripe on the fertilized field. That crop will give double yields, and the soil underneath it will become immediately unfertilized. Therefore, you may postpone your fertilization until just before the field becomes ripe, and still get the same results as if you had fertilized the field before it was even sowed. However, if you fertilize a field when it already contains ripened crops, those crops will not give a double yield - but the next harvest will. Until a crop becomes ripe on top of it, fertilized soil will not become unfertilized no matter what you do to it.
Hired Workers
You may use Hired Workers to operate a fertilizer sprayer.
Hired Workers will give very different coverage depending on whether you mount the Sprayer at the front or the rear of your tractor. Mounting at the rear gives good coverage of the field with only a few spots missed along the edge on most passes. Front mounting can confuse the Hired Worker greatly, resulting in some passes that miss large chunks of fields, and other passes that give perfect coverage but involve bizarre turning maneuvers. In both cases, the wide arms of the Sprayer are especially prone to colliding with terrain obstacles, causing the driver to become stuck.
Note that Hired Workers can continue working when they run out of Liquid Fertilizer in the tank. However, once the tank is empty, the Hired Worker will automatically purchase more Liquid Fertilizer as necessary, at a much higher price than normal. Since Liquid Fertilizer is already quite expensive, this can end up costing you a lot of money.
The solution is to either use automated fertilizer sprayers only on limited-size fields, or make sure to dismiss the Hired Worker and go refill the tank every time it runs out.