Drone Application for Grass Burr (Sticker Burr) Control
Sticker Burr / Grass Burr Control
Grass burrs, or sandburs (Cenchrus spp.), are annual grasses whose spiny burrs foul hay, hooves, pets, and bare feet.
How to identify it
Grass burrs give themselves away at seed: a spike of hard, straw-colored burrs, each ringed with sharp, backward-barbed spines that grab socks, hides, and hooves. The plant is a low, spreading annual grass that favors thin, sandy, overgrazed ground.
Generic species-identification photos, shown to help you recognize the target, not images of our own work.
Why it’s a problem
Sandburs thrive in thin, sandy, overgrazed turf, set burrs that ruin hay quality and injure livestock and pets, and re-seed prolifically. Sandy ground is also where a spray rig tends to lose traction.
When a drone is the right tool (vs. a ground rig)
Even coverage across the whole infested area is the point, sandy patches and low spots included. Flying the pre- or post-emergent also keeps wheel tracks out of the turf you're trying to thicken.
Best time to treat
Grass burrs are beaten on their life cycle, so there are two windows: a pre-emergent before the soil warms and the seed germinates in early spring (and again ahead of fall germination), and a post-emergent on young, actively growing plants in late spring to early summer, before the burrs harden. Hit the right stage and most of the job is done; thickening healthy turf handles the rest over the seasons that follow.
Treatment cost
Because burrs are beaten on timing, the schedule matters as much as the acreage when we price a job. Tell us about your pasture or hay ground and we'll quote 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.