How successfull is weed spraying with airplane?

[Hopperbin]

Things are wet and more rain in forecast some are considering application by air, myself I would rather make the ruts and know that my chemical is on target than hiring the plane. Last time it happened here there was a few mishaps. Does one have to make sure the applicator has insurance?

[countryguy]

You still have applicators that will spray herbicides? Apparently here they won't touch them anymore, fungicides only. I also have a similar question to yours in that I am wondering if the plane gets good enough coverage on wheat heads, or do I go and fight mud and then deal with the ruts after to get better coverage with the ground sprayer?

[groundspeed]

The reason aerial applicators dont want to do herbicide applications this time of year is its very hard to find a field that does not have a suseptable crop around it. Airplane flys by and the neighbours think soo, soo,soo! Theres nothing wrong with the coverage , just that sometimes its too good if it crosses the fenceline. Been there done that.

[hedgehog]

how big are your sprayer tyres?

[sumdumguy]

The phones are ringing off the wall for aerial. Lots
of winter wheat sprayed last month.

These sue kinda lunatics might rather have a
field of sow thistle blowing onto them.

Farmers are gonna sue themselves right into
weedpatch.farmers can lose hundreds af acres to
flooding but heaven forbid they get an acre of
drift from the neighbour.

[sumdumguy]

Gotta get the spraying done one way or another.
Everything is a calculated risk.

[bgmb]

We had liberty done by air last year, worked good
but you have to have the correct wind obviously. It
will yellow trees but wont kill them.

[freewheat]

Works better than you think it will. But
we have many treed fencelines here, and
drift is never a big deal because of that,
so can not comment there. Same for ground
spraying as well. The treelines some curse
at, allow me to spray RR canola beside
flax, any day of the week.

[wilagro]

freewheat: but, but,but the BIG farmers on this forum don't want trees. They are diggin' 'em out and makin' BIG fields for their BIG equipment.

They don't see any advantage in trees and regard them as weeds.

[hobbyfrmr]

Hopper in, YES one has to make sure applicator
has insurance. I would be foolish not to. If
applicator does not have insurance the onus then
goes onto the farmer that hired them. Logic.
I am an organic farmer and I am not concerned
when the spray planes are flying. Everybody has
to make their living. That stuff they are spraying is
expensive, they really don't want to share with
neighbors.
If conventional farmers spent as much time
making sure their applicator has insurance as
they did fretting about getting sued, everything
would work out fine. Any/all custom applicators
should know the land they are spraying and the
adjacent land as well. Most organic farms have
registered their land at the rural municipality office
and quite often the local AG retailers offices.
The paranoia is not with the organic farmer but
with the conventional guy who does not want to
do his diligence, he just wants to call the plane
and hurry hurry got r done. Everybody knows the
risks, why not make sure it's minimized.
This is logical advice do with it as you please. I
am not interested in starting a fight about organic
vs. spraying. I don't care. You asked a question I
am providing a logical, business related answer.

[CANOLANAZI]

We'll from my experience very unpredictable, fence lines or not...it has floated across major grids and highways and knocks out 50 acres of a neighbors field...great option for fungicides with no wheel tracks...

[groundspeed]

When it comes to insurance i have a friend that is an ag pilot and he says the deductable on his drift insurance is 20000 dollars out of his pocket before insurance kicks in and has never used it because most mishaps are not that big. Dont blame those guys for not wanting to do it.

[CANOLANAZI]

ya pilot love bushes, fenclines and powerpoles when they are spraying because of drift concerns???

[freewheat]

Canolanazi. I didn't say pilots like
bushes. Straight treelines matter not to
them though, they fly beside them, and
climb over them at the ends, no biggie.

Power pole are different. They have this
string strung between them that pilots
tend to catch on once in a while!

[jensend]

i regard spray drift the same way as my neighbors regard my cattle going through their crop. if my fences aren't up to the task my cattle shouldn't be there and if the wind is blowing towards my yard, hay or pasture they shouldn't be spraying.