What Kinds of Aerial Spraying Services Does Heli-Ag Offer?
As a farmer, crop loss is something not taken very lightly. Losing a crop can be detrimental to a farmer’s livelihood. That is why it is important to know how to prevent crop loss. Depending on what type of nuisance is effecting a crop, depends on the type of product needed to combat the issue.
Dry and Liquid Fertilizers
Fertilizer is the general term to something applied to a plant in order to provide essential nutrients that contribute to plant growth. There are two general types, liquid and dry fertilizers. Although studies show that neither is better when comparing how agronomic they are, there are still different benefits between dry and liquid varieties. One of the main reasons farmers decide on dry types is that they tend to be cheaper when bought in bulk than liquids. In addition, they are usually a lot easier to store. Liquids require special storage and application systems. These systems are generally fairly expensive, so they take away from the benefits of liquids. However, the benefits of liquid come from the fact that they are easy to handle and apply to crops. Also, some pesticides are compatible with liquid fertilizers, so both can be applied to crops at the same time.
Herbicides, more commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to kill unwanted plants. These come in both selective and non-selective varieties. Selective weed killers will only kill specific plants, leaving crops generally unharmed. Non-selective varieties can kill any plant that they come into contact with and are generally used to clear waste ground. In both types, there are organic varieties of herbicides. However, these types are usually less efficient at killing unwanted plants, and they cost more money.
Fungicides are a type of substance that is used to help combat diseases causes by fungi, which are the number one cause of crop loss around the world. Most commonly, these products are applied as liquids, but are also available in dust, gas, and granules. There are systemic and contact varieties of fungicides, which are the same as the systemic and contact types of insecticides. There are also translaminar types, which redistribute the chemical from the top leaves that were sprayed to the bottom, unsprayed leaves.
Another form of application is through aerial broadcasting. There are dry fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and many different types of seeds that can be broadcasted thru a dry spreader. Although not as common as liquid spraying, it can be a vital technique for your farm.