About The Weed Zapper

Built by Old School Manufacturing, LLC, the Annihilator series from The Weed Zapper is designed for farmers, by farmers and made in the USA.

The Weed Zapper has been fine-tuned from earlier technology for ease of use and service, and is equipped with modern software and hardware, including redesigned, shatter-proof insulators; flexible, field-contouring booms; and up to three times more amperage.

The Weed Zapper  comes with front-mounted booms that help to minimize operator fatigue and allows the unit to come in contact with weeds that are closer to the crop canopy. The redesigned, custom-made booms feature contouring ability that allows the booms to flex and move with the contours of your crop fields. It can even be used in wet ground conditions.

How it Works

Electric discharge weeding works by forcing an electrical current through a plant’s stem. The current boils the water inside the plant’s cells, bursting the cell walls. This immediately kills the plant. The less water a plant has, like those of grasses, the longer The Weed Zapper must be touching it for it to be effective. (Slower speed, extra pass) The Weed Zapper is non-selective in killing plants.

The Weed Zapper is basically a copper bar that has voltage on it. As long as nothing is touching the bar, nothing happens. As soon as a plant touches the bar, current starts flowing down the plant stem. This minimally-invasive method of killing weeds is environmentally-friendly and requires as little as one pass for minimal soil disturbance. Using electricity to kill weeds allows you to kill weeds before they go to seed, thus diminishing the seed bank in future years.

Some Weeds it Kills

  • Pigweed
  • Johnson grass
  • Amaranth (including palmer)
  • Lambs quarters
  • Black eyed susan
  • Queen anne’s lace
  • Foxtail
  • Water hemp
  • Button weed
  • Thistle
  • Giant ragweed/Horseweed

 

Note: The Weed Zapper system is designed to be used in conjunction with other cover crop termination equipment, not as the primary termination system.

Some of the Cover Crops it has been tested in:

  • Alfalfa
  • Oats
  • Rye
  • Peas
  • Clover

Safety Features

Computerized controls and monitoring improve product safety, controllability and productivity of up to 200,000 watts. The Annihilator is built with safety measures at the forefront, including multiple safety sensors designed to stop all electrical output. If the wing raises off the ground, the driver gets out of the tractor seat and/or the monitor senses a loss of motion, The Weed Zapper will stop electrical output.

The Annihilator series is able to cover up to 20 acres per hour.