Posted on 02/28/2024 9:25:24 PM PST by zeestephen
Good apples though. The skin is thinner then the current variety and it is much juicier. Still looks like a cartoon apple but with flavor.
It could fly a lot closer to the crops, be more selective in spray, avoid drift, and avoid obstacles. It looked real promising but the author never addressed economics.
They are sold on the idea it saves fertilizer but total cost is the same.
Watch the embedded video...
DJI Agras T30 Agriculture Drone
Here's the newest DJI ag model on YouTube: Agras T40
This is a great video by Taylor from AgriSpray Drones. He shows how to program, set up, and use the DJI Agras T40 in the field: DJI Agras T40 Full Spraying Demo
I know what you mean, brother!
I’ve lived it, I am living it and I’m 100% absolutely positive and certain that I’m going to live it in the future. If I had a future.
That’s life. I love it! Shoot me now.
Or shoot me later, it’s all good.
Impressive. Thanks for the links. And as with manned ag aircraft, muddy ground is a non-factor.
And also scary, seeing how the things can be programmed to fly autonomously, performing a wide variety of missions.
The big ground machines will still rule the spraying quality. More gallons of water per acre mean more thorough contact: 20 gallons versus 2 gallons, the results are obvious.
The T40 has to make 2 rounds (4 passes) to match one pass with a big 120’ boom on a ground rig.
I thought the same. There’s little discussion about the overall economics of drone spraying and efficacy of the spray at high concentrations vs dilute with a spray boom rig. That drone doesn’t carry much weight.
The ‘see and spray’ tech on the ground rigs are really going to save on chemical. In years of row crop farming I would somtimes have a 2 gallon spray gun on the cabless tractor, while cultivating corn or soybeans, so I could spray really tough and hated weeds, like jimson, cocklebur, burdock, and thistle, that escaped the front mount cultivator shovels.
The drones can fly slow enough to do that as well. However, aerial applicators rely on the vortexes to fan outward the spray, so spot spraying would require narrower passes, which means a lot more passes.
And with manned helicopters flying that slow the propwash is sure wreck spray pattern, and snaps leaves off of corn stalks.
The helo drones are probably already being used to blow water drops off of cherrys. There’s been some pilot deaths from that chore. Flying a helo back and forth, just above a hover mode, is a dangerous low flying skill.
“2 gallon spray gun on the cabless tractor”
Did you grab that wand and spot-spray manually?
“However, aerial applicators rely on the vortexes to fan outward the spray, so spot spraying would require narrower passes, which means a lot more passes.”
The video discusses the drone vortex being used to distribute the spray to a 32 ft width swath. With that prop wash, it doesn’t sound like the drones can be used to spot spray. I would think automated spot spraying requires an in-the-ground rig. I’ve seen a number of university research project videos of such robotic spot spraying as well as spot-burning of young weeds.
I got used to holding the wand with one hand while steering with the other, which was easier than it sounds in fields with few in-row weeds.
There were times my youngest brother rode along and handled a wand in fields where in-row weeds were more common. In those cases we even had two spray wands. He would spray rows on the left side, and I would drive and spray the right side. Before he was old enough to do that while riding the fender, it was me while Dad drove the tractor.
We had a couple of landlords back then that were VERY particular about weed-free fields.
Us four kids walked soybean fields as well, pulling or hooking weeds. Dirt clod fights were common. Moist clods would usually break upon impact. The dry ones often didn’t (OWW!).
“Dirt clod fights were common.”
LOL...reminds me of snowball fights with soft snow and icy snow. Ouch!
The hedgeball battles between us farm kids (including the neighboring ones) was fun AND painful.
We had three big hedge trees that provided plenty of ammo. The approx 3’ deep ditches on each side of the gravel road near our house were the ‘trenches’, and the road itself was ‘no man’s land’.
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