Using Drones for Weed Management

She Maps Team
She Maps Team
18 Feb 2019
Aerial view of a large weed farm

By Dr Kerry Beggs

Image: Rainforest north of Townsville – photo taken using my Mavic Air flying at approximately 60m AGL. Understory plants could be seen clearly.

Mapping invasive weeds

An area I do a lot of work in is weed management – a field I can see huge potential for the use of drones. There are several sites I work on in North Queensland with highly invasive species, such as siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) and lantana (Lantana camara). At present, most of the mapping of these species is done from ground crews as they spray the plants with herbicide, with some aerial mapping done by helicopter. The management is a combination of manual removal, mechanical, chemical (herbicide – from the ground and by helicopter) and planned burns. I can see a big future for the use of drones in weed management!

For example, during a trial in rainforest areas south of Cairns infected with a highly invasive weed, Miconia calvescens, scientists compared images captured by purpose-built drones with observations from scientists mapping the weed by helicopter. The drones were found to perform better than expected, with more Miconia plants spotted than by observers in helicopters. An added bonus is that drones provide a safer alternative than traditional aerial surveys.

Another excellent example that I can see has applications for weed management, comes from the field of precision agriculture. An agricultural student from the University of Queensland developed and tested a drone that could drop beneficial bugs (Californicus mites) onto crops infected with harmful two spotted mites. The beneficial mite eats the pest mite, hence improving the quality of the crop. Manually distributing the beneficial mite at the ground level is very difficult for farmer,s so the ability to spread it from the air saved them time and money.

I would love to use a similar approach to release biological control agents, such as the lantana bugmite, on sites I am currently working on that have poor and/or unsafe ground access.

I have started some of my own very small-scale trials for weed mapping to answer basic questions like – how low do I need to fly to be able to identify particular species? Can all weed species I am interested in be discerned from the air? Can a drone be used in all habitats? A flight earlier this week proved to me that shrubby or ground-level weeds (such as lantana) in the understory of one of my rainforest sites could not be seen. So while drones worked well for spotting Miconia in rainforest, they might not be all that useful on the rainforest sites where I work.

It is a steep learning curve, but I am enjoying the challenge. I hope to grow my skills in this area and one day be at the forefront for using drones for weed management, and especially as a tool for the release of biological control agents. Exciting times ahead for using drone technology in weed management!

About She Maps.

She Maps is Australia’s leading expert in drone and geospatial education. 

She Maps assist schools with the purchasing of drones, school-industry created drone and geospatial teaching resources and highly supportive teacher professional development.

 
You’re in Safe Hands!
She Maps is a CASA approved commercial operator to fly microdrones indoors with students and teachers. CASA holds commercial operators, to a higher standard than recreational users and educators. This means that She Maps has been assessed by CASA as having rigorous training and risk mitigation procedures in place.
 

Ready to buy drones for your school? We are an authorised DJI reseller in Australia

Want some help?

Schedule a call with one of our team members to get some personalised recommendations.
picture4
Share
Tweet
Share
In this article:
    Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

    Stay up to date

    Subscribe by email and never miss a blog post or announcement.

    Flying High with Drones at Your School!

    Learn the 6 Steps to Launching a Successful Drone and Geospatial Program at your School

    What’s covered:
    • The educational benefits for running a drone & geospatial program
    • How to gather whole school support for the program
    • How to fund your drone program
    • Matching your school requirements to the best program
    • How to build teacher confidence and capabilities
    • Steps to expand your program with school-industry partnerships

    Try before you buy

    Take our resources for a spin and join the thousands of teachers who love our ready-to-teach classroom materials. Try one of our complete units of work for free.

    drones in forestry yr 5 6
    drones in forestry yr 9 10