Do you use a drone for detecting,poor, drainage/crop nutrient deficiency etc?

[Pilatus]

I believe some of you have had drones for a few years, are they a useful tool or are they in all honesty more of a toy.
Seeing crops from a light aircraft shows up so much that you can’t see from the ground, I was wondering if using a drone is as effective.

 

[Pan mixer]

It is good at spotting drainage things but they will only be spotted if the soil and plant conditions are right. Once you have looked at a field once then you know most of whatever you will find out I suspect

Much more handy for livestock though as they can be used to inspect them or look for them if they have broken out. I use mine as a sheep dog too.

 

[Lexion1000]

The sprayer tends to be the best place to see these things.

 

[yellow belly]

The sprayer tends to be the best place to see these things.

There are times when travelling is impossible in a sprayer
with the appropriate software the sentinel satalight information is available every week or so

 

[Pilatus]

There are times when travelling is impossible in a sprayer
with the appropriate software the sentinel satalight information is available every week or so

Sentinel Satellite Information ??
An old country bumkin needs enlightening,so any info appreciated . Thanks in advance.

 

[Steevo]

I used mine to decide how much of a crop is viable and not. Took a photo, drew the area to rip up, gave it to contractor and all sorted.

Gave a much better perspective of the thin bits than just being on the ground.

Also very handy for photos of drainage pipes either when laid or seeing them in the crop.

It’s had more use than I expected.

 

[Wombat]

I used mine to decide how much of a crop is viable and not. Took a photo, drew the area to rip up, gave it to contractor and all sorted.

Gave a much better perspective of the thin bits than just being on the ground.

Also very handy for photos of drainage pipes either when laid or seeing them in the crop.

It’s had more use than I expected.

I think this year it would be more what to keep

 

[DrWazzock]

I find a beet harvester is pretty good at finding blocked drains.
But yes I agree I can see a use for a drone. Last year during the dry summer every land drain in the beet field showed up green, everything else was yellow. Same with the cereals Would have been an ideal opportunity to map them if I’d got round to it.
But you would need something like a gps ref grid otherwise you would have no reference points to measure from, just a nice picture.
Is there a free centimetre accuracy ref grid linked to ordnance survey grid to reference drains etc? Then would need hand held device to pinpoint later.
Aerial photos aren’t maps though due to perspective errors and parallax so how does it all work? I reckon it could work but would be expensive.

 

[Steevo]

Example of drains here:

 

[steveR]

Watch out that Natural England or any Archaeology bods dont identify any ancient sites from your pics, and close the field down!

 

[Fielder]

I find a beet harvester is pretty good at finding blocked drains.
But yes I agree I can see a use for a drone. Last year during the dry summer every land drain in the beet field showed up green, everything else was yellow. Same with the cereals Would have been an ideal opportunity to map them if I’d got round to it.
But you would need something like a gps ref grid otherwise you would have no reference points to measure from, just a nice picture.
Is there a free centimetre accuracy ref grid linked to ordnance survey grid to reference drains etc? Then would need hand held device to pinpoint later.
Aerial photos aren’t maps though due to perspective errors and parallax so how does it all work? I reckon it could work but would be expensive.

I find that google earth is useful. Take a drone photo or drainage map. put them on your computer, layer them on google earth, use the opaque slide, you can then measure or take grid ref from there.

 

[yellow belly]

The sentinal satalights pas over every 10 days or so imaging the ground if there is no cloud
this is free but you need the right software to read the data and identify the right file for your farm
daughter studied gis at uni