Herbicide Spot Spraying - green on green

Thistle in maize: hit every plant, not the whole field.

Creeping thistle is one of the toughest weeds in maize. It is a perennial with deep roots that keep sending up new shoots, so inter-row hoeing only sets it back for a while. It takes a systemic herbicide, which moves down into the roots. That is why the usual approach is to spray the whole field, even when the thistle grows on only part of it.

In this field the maize was at BBCH 12, early enough for a good hit. A 12-minute drone flight captured the field, and CultiWise found every single thistle plant, 11,079 in total. Most grew in patches, but it also picked up the ones standing on their own. That became the prescription map, and the Agrifac Condor with 1-metre sections sprayed only 6.23 of the 12.92 hectares. The map calculated in advance how much mix was needed, so the operator mixed exactly that and nothing was left in the tank.