Drone Services for Kiwifruit Growers
Kiwifruit orchards have clear and practical reasons to use drone services — particularly around soil compaction during spring operations. We work in kiwifruit orchards regularly, providing aerial services timed to the orchard calendar and delivered without the compaction consequences of ground equipment.
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OVERHEAD SHELTER CLEANING
Cleaning the overhead shelter structure in a kiwifruit orchard is a significant and often awkward job. We apply cleaning sprays accurately from above - covering the shelter surface evenly and efficiently.
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Overhead Shelter Cleaning Spray
We apply cleaning product to kiwifruit overhead shelter structures from above, covering the full surface of the netting or structure accurately and evenly. The drone's position and spray pattern is well-suited to this application - covering it consistently without missing sections.
Shelter cleaning is a straightforward application of drone capability in the kiwifruit context. If you have other spray or spreading work needed in the orchard at the same time, we can often combine jobs to reduce mobilisation costs.
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NITROGEN SPREADING
Nitrogen at bud break and pre-flowering is an important part of the kiwifruit nutrition programme - but getting it on at this time of year means dealing with spring soil conditions that make tractor access problematic. We spread solid or apply foliar nitrogen accurately from the air, without adding tractor compaction to the root zone at one of the most sensitive points in the season.
WHY A DRONE · Timing nitrogen applications without tractor compaction is a straightforward practical win at this point in the season. Nitrogen spreading can often be combined with other spring spray operations to reduce the number of separate mobilisations.
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Pre-Flowering Solid Nitrogen Spreading
At bud break, typical nitrogen applications are in the range of a couple of hundred kilograms per hectare - well within what our spreading systems handle accurately. We spread across the orchard block evenly, covering inter-row and under-canopy areas consistently.
Spring Nitrogen Programme
Where the nutrition programme calls for multiple nitrogen applications through spring and early season, we can plan and carry out those applications on schedule — responding to growth stage and timing requirements without being delayed by wet ground.
Foliar Nitrogen Application
Where foliar nitrogen is part of the programme, we apply it directly to the canopy with even coverage, using the drone's downwash to ensure good contact with the foliage.
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PASSIONFRUIT HOPPER CONTROL
Passionvine hopper (PVH) is a serious pest in kiwifruit orchards, with sooty mould from hopper excretion causing fruit rejection that has cost the industry millions in export losses. The pest typically moves into orchards from shelter, native bush, and boundary vegetation - which means treating those border areas is often as important as treating the crop itself. A drone gets into exactly those difficult spots accurately and safely.
PVH management is most effective when timed to target the population before or during migration from boundary areas into the orchard. For orchards with persistent PVH pressure, a programme approach across the season may be more effective than a single application.
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Border & Shelter Insecticide Treatment
Passionvine hopper migrates into kiwifruit blocks from adjacent shelter and boundary vegetation. We target the orchard rows closest to the shelter, the shelter structure itself, and boundary zone areas — reducing population pressure before it spreads into the productive block, rather than treating the whole orchard unnecessarily.
Boundary & Native Bush Edge Treatment
Where orchard blocks border native bush or rough ground that harbours PVH populations, treating the edge zone is critical. Getting insecticide into that transition area — steep, overgrown, or too rough for ground equipment — is where aerial application earns its value.
Orchard Block Treatment
Where hopper pressure has moved into the main block, we treat across the whole affected area accurately and efficiently, applying registered insecticide with good canopy penetration.
Tell us about your block
Send us your crop, the job, and roughly where you are. We’ll come and give it a look and tell you straight whether a drone’s the right tool
PREFER TO TALK? CALL JOHN DIRECT