Can drones plant trees? Would you buy a budget drone that can plant seeds?
The answer will obviously differ based on whether you think of drones as something that can revolutionize agriculture or just think of them as cool toys for kids. Regardless, you cannot deny the fact that drones have evolved from something that flies for a very short period of time to something that can be used for aerial surveillance and mapping.
You can even find drones being used to shoot stunning aerial footage, so it makes sense that farmers would want this technology to sow seeds on their farms.
In this short post, I will try to cover all about drones that can plant seeds and why you should be interested. Before we talk about that, let’s talk about the need first.
Why Would You Want Drones To Plant Seeds
If you are somebody who owns a farm or has ever worked on one, you know exactly how tedious the routine can be.
First, you need to make sure the land is never dry, and fertilize the soil so any plants you might grow on it can get sufficient nutrients to thrive. Then, you need to plow the fields and plant seeds one by hand.
Even if you’re a fast worker, it can take you days or even months to plant all the seeds by hand. How would a quadcopter in the air help?
You’re Saving Precious Time
If the land spans many acres, it might take many days to plant each seed in the ground. By employing drones to do that for you, you are saving lots of time.
You can also use a drone to water your plants far quicker than manually watering the plants would take.
Reducing The Cost Of Manual Labor
In almost any industry, automation has drastically reduced production costs. Not only does using drones to plant seeds help perform tasks faster, but it also reduces the cost of manual labor- which is affected by inflation each year.
And companies don’t need to worry about workers’ unions staging riots and protests either.
Paves Way For Automation
Think about this for a moment- there’s a huge farm that is plowed by robots, seeds are planted by drones, watering is carried out by drones which are regulated by Machine Learning that can tell when plants need to be watered, and when you order a ripe tomato, a drone harvests tomato and brings them to your doorstep in minutes. The last part may seem a bit far-fetched but using drones in agriculture can certainly help automate many mundane tasks farmers need to do on a daily basis.
Could Use A Drone To Spray Pesticides Safely
As much as I would like to advocate in favor of organic produce- and chemical-free crops, you cannot deny that plants grown without proper pesticides won’t grow as well as the ones that have routine pesticide applications. There are plenty of plant pathogens that can stay in the soil or spread by air that will harm the plants- so sooner or later, you will need to spray something to ensure a profitable harvest.
Pesticides are laden with harmful chemicals that are known to be carcinogenic if inhaled directly. Using drones in agriculture can help prevent the risk of several kinds of cancer that can be caused due to pesticide handling.
Using Drones To Plant Seeds
Before you get a drone to plant seeds, you should be aware of the land composition. Usually, drones create a 3D map of the agricultural plot, and testing the soil to check for nutrient composition and pH is also a good idea.
You can certainly get drones to automatically detect the best way to fly over the land and shoot pods with seeds inside of them but for the time being, let’s say you fly a drone manually. The seed pods on the ground would then break open- and the seed would germinate after you spray the soil with water.
Using Drones To Plant Trees And Combat Deforestation
Deforestation and the loss of habitat for wildlife isn’t exactly a cool topic to talk about at parties and gatherings but it certainly is one of the biggest issues that need our immediate attention. If you’ve always wondered whether brands could really make a real change by using technology, you will be happy to know that AirSeed Technology has made drones that can plant over 40,000 seeds every day and has a goal of planting 100 million trees by 2024.
The best part? it’s 25 times as fast while also being 80% less expensive, and you don’t need to lay a finger on the controller!
The seeds are packed into seed pods that are made using waste biomass that protects and provides a Carbon source for the growing seeds. The drones also keep track of the seeds coordinates so they can monitor the tree’s health in the future.
The other pioneers experimenting with drones that can plant trees are Dendra and Biocarbon Engineering. The future for drones in reforestation seems promising as stated in this 2017 research on Seed Plant Drone For Reforestation.
The major challenge to implementing this technology on a small scale is the operating costs. It’s certainly more suited in areas that have been affected by fires and if conducted on a larger scale, it could certainly be more economic.
There are some safety hazards associated with drones that can plant trees- since these drones are large and usually made out of materials like Kevlar that are on par with steel, they can seriously hurt you. It can be very easily avoided with proper precautions so it should be a non-issue.
Closing Thoughts
Drones that plant seeds are pretty cool, and they could very easily revolutionize agriculture. Innovations are exciting and quadcopters can help restore the balance in the ecosystem by helping us plant more drones.
If you liked this post and would like to read more on drones, kindly consider bookmarking our site, the shortcut’s Ctrl + D. Also, check our buying guide on drones if you are new to drones and are thinking about getting one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can drones help trees?
Drones can plant seeds of trees much faster, survey land plots, help restore fire-devastated areas and easily spray seeds in places that can be hard to reach for humans. It’s also very efficient and cost-effective to use drones to monitor large forests.
How many trees are cut down each minute?
According to global data, over 2400 trees are cut down every minute. Drone operators can plant up to 120 seed pods per minute but that isn’t done regularly, so the numbers of trees being planted are pretty low.
