It has been a busy May for the team, busy undergoing research and development on our pre plant spot sprayer. We are pleased to say that our Kiwi built spot spray rig combined with XAG’s world class UAV platform has been a great success!
We can now confidently say we can spot spray your desired spots per hectare. From 100 to 2000 1.5m2 spots in a single hectare, we can spray them at a cost comparable to other methods.
Whats so good about being able to pre plant spot spray? – Well it has many benefits listed below:
- Faster planting – Thatch layer is dead, so planters spade can drive straight into the spot easily and quickly. The thatch layer also retains moisture for the plant.
- Less training for planters – Planters can spend less time working out where to plant trees and more time planting accurately.
- Less time required for QC at planting – QC does not need to monitor tree stocking.
- Less labour required at releasing time – as we use a chemical that has a residual, trees generally do not need a spring release. (This will however vary from job to job and between different species)
- 85% saving in chemical compared to aerial blanket spraying.
- Less erosion and sediment loss compared to blanket spraying.
As you can see the list of benefits are long and this is why the team has been so focused on getting this right. Over the past month our two P30s have completed trials of large areas and whilst mark one is not 100%, we know what we need to work on. We are confident we can offer a great service next planting season.
