Drone Application for Mesquite Control
Mesquite Control
Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) is a deep-rooted, thorny brush that crowds out forage grass.
How to identify it
Honey mesquite is easiest to spot by its foliage and pods: fine, feathery, fern-like leaves split into many small leaflets, and long, narrow, bean-like seed pods that hang in clusters through summer. Branches carry straight, stout thorns.
Generic species-identification photos, shown to help you recognize the target, not images of our own work.
Why it’s a problem
Mesquite re-sprouts aggressively after a top-kill and sends a taproot well past the reach of a single pass. It forms dense motts on broken or rocky ground, the kind of terrain where a tractor-mounted sprayer ruts the soil or simply can't get in. Left alone, it shades out grazeable grass and pulls down water the pasture needs.
When a drone is the right tool (vs. a ground rig)
Where the stand is patchy, the terrain is rough or rocky, or the ground is still too wet to hold a rig, flying it is the better call. The leaf application goes onto the canopy from the air, plant by plant and mott by mott, with no road cut in and no wheel ruts or compaction left behind.
Best time to treat
Foliar treatment works best in late spring to early summer, once the leaves are fully out and mature (commonly a month or more after they emerge) and the plant is actively growing and moving nutrients toward its roots. Healthy, unstressed mesquite takes up herbicide best, so we avoid drought-stressed stands and time the pass to that active-growth window. Expect to work a stand across more than one season.
Treatment cost
Acreage, how thick the stand is, and what the ground under it looks like all move the number. Where a rig would be slow, blocked, or tearing up the pasture to get there, a drone earns its keep. Send us the details on your stand and we'll put a quote to it.
A note on results: a treatment reduces an infestation, and no application can guarantee a percent kill. We scope every job to the site in front of us and tell you what a pass is likely to do.
Where we work
Based in Bryan, we serve customers across Texas, including Bryan, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas, TX, Marble Falls, TX, Tyler, TX. We also run jobs into Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. See our full service area or ask if we cover your area.