Home made weed killer

[m_c]

When I was visiting Chile 2017, the one T.V. channel was devoted to farming.

They showed using a drone to fly a pattern back & forth across a field to map it using
a camera ( IIRC infrared as well), tech at desk downloads the view, program circles area's on the field
with less or stunted growth, develops file.

At the field, sprayer operator downloads or USB drive into sprayer, hooked to GPS.
Drives around field, spray nozzles each going on/off like a printer.

applying different amounts where needed.

Selective tech has been around for quite a while.
IIRC Massey had it in the 90s, where the combine would map the yield, which could then be used by the seeder/fertiliser spreader to vary planting/fertiliser to try and get a more even yield from each field.

AI/ML/VIsion is now reaching the point where you can pretty much pinpoint on a plant by plant basis, and the machines now exist to do it all in realtime.

 

[Bravheart]

For you glyphosate haters--

There's a contractor with a sprayer going round here that can identify weeds in crops with cameras on the front and switch on the appropriate nozzle to zap the weed. Currently set up to kill docks in grass. The dock killer spray will also kill clover which you want to keep. So saves on artificial fertiliser and Also saves a load of chemical.
Win Win.

Saw a farmer on telly last week using an unmanned robot tractor to mechanically dig out the weeds in sugar beet. Linked to the satellite gps systems the same robot planted the beet so knew exactly where each plant was and cleared out everything between the plants.

BTW. Glyphosate was developed as a tank and pipework cleaner not as a weedkiller.

 

[knighty]

Would this also kill brambles?
Edit; answered by @knighty so yes, how did you apply it?

I'm a bit late so maybe someone has already answered, but 1kg mixed with 5 litres of water

some people add washing up liquid, I've tried with and without, can;t really see the difference

nettles go black and die within about 24hours, brambles it takes about a week

 

[Seadog]

Washing up liquid us used on plants with a waxy leaf: ivy, mare's tail, rhododendron etc.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Selective tech has been around for quite a while.
IIRC Massey had it in the 90s, where the combine would map the yield, which could then be used by the seeder/fertiliser spreader to vary planting/fertiliser to try and get a more even yield from each field.

AI/ML/VIsion is now reaching the point where you can pretty much pinpoint on a plant by plant basis, and the machines now exist to do it all in realtime.

Yep, they did. Combine measured the grain flow into it and GPS made the map on the fly. Data was then dumped into the combined seed/fertiliser drill which was also GPS monitored and application rate varied on the fly again to pump more into more fertile bits of the field and less on hilltops where it would be wasted. Precision farming was the name used.

 

[nickk]

We have loads of invasive Himalayan Balsam around here. Almost impossible to spray, too much and it is interwoven with native species. It pulls easily, but is often growing through brambles on steep hillsides and streams. It's an annual, so if you pull it before it seeds, it will go away, eventually.

Goats grazing it would be perfect, its non- toxic to animals, just a problem of goat containment. Those fancy GPS collars on Clarkson's farm look good for containment, but spendy.

Our riverbank is prone some years to it,lovely to see,10’ deep,200’ foot stretch,7’ tall,next year none at all.