Ag Drone Spraying in Henderson County, TX for Hay, Pasture and Ponds

Ag drone spraying prices in Henderson County

Ag drone spraying in Henderson County, TX is quoted per acre, application only. Drone operators serving the county start at $12–15 per acre, and Texas A&M AgriLife's 2026 custom rates for East Texas put aerial herbicide at $11.67, aerial insecticide or fungicide at $11.78 and aerial brush work at $23.20. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Pasture broadleaf herbicide	from $11/acre	Bitterweed, croton, dogfennel
Hay insecticide	from $11/acre	Fall armyworm, stem maggot
Fertilizer	from $14/acre	Liquid or dry
Seeding	from $15/acre	Overseeding, renovation
Brush and woody plants	from $21/acre	Fence rows, saplings

Fields under 20 acres are billed as 20 acres. Ponds and lake coves are quoted after a site check. Product is billed separately.

Small tracts and lake country

Henderson County had 1,891 farms in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and 56% were under 50 acres. Livestock made up 77% of sales.

Land use or crop	2022
Pasture	137,131 acres
Cropland	68,636 acres
Hay and forage	47,675 acres
Woodland	43,838 acres
Cattle	62,098 head

The county ranks 22nd in Texas for fruit, nut and berry sales, with blueberries leading, and Athens has called itself the Black-Eyed Pea Capital of the World since 1971. Ag drone spraying in Henderson County is mostly pasture and hay work, with careful buffers around berries and gardens.

East Texas weed timing

• Annuals (bitterweed, woolly croton, buttercup): spray young, in spring.
• Perennials (dogfennel, ironweed, broomweed, dewberry): spray at bloom or in late summer to early fall.
• Drought: don't spray drought-stressed plants.
• Clover: picloram products carry plant-back limits for clover.

Fall armyworm in hay

AgriLife's threshold is 3 or more armyworms per square foot. Females lay up to 2,000 eggs that hatch in two to three days, with four or five generations a year. Outbreaks follow rain after a dry spell in late summer and fall, so scout in the morning and treat the same day.

Bermudagrass stem maggot

Sample 50 stems at 5–10 spots each week. At a $12 treatment cost, the threshold is about 16% damaged stems for $140-per-ton hay and 22% for $100 hay; each 1% costs about 8.9 pounds per acre. Apply a pyrethroid 7–10 days after cutting.

Smutgrass and bahiagrass in bermuda

Problem	AgriLife option	Note
Smutgrass	Velpar L, 2.75–4.5 pints per acre	Once a year, warm moist soil, 38-day hay wait
Smutgrass suppression	Plateau	After bermuda green-up
Bahiagrass in bermuda	Pastora, Chaparral or Cimarron Plus	Read hay and grazing intervals

Cedar Creek, Lake Palestine and ponds

Cedar Creek Reservoir covers 32,873 acres on the county's west side, Lake Palestine runs along the Neches on the east, and Lake Athens sits near town. Texas Parks and Wildlife lists 2026 treatment proposals for giant salvinia on Lake Palestine and Lake Athens. Public water needs TPWD approval before treatment; private stock ponds generally don't. Only products labeled for aquatic use go on water.

Post oak sands and lake lots

Field condition	Tractor sprayer	Spray drone
Sandy pastures between woods	Missed corners	Mapped edges
Trinity River bottoms after rain	Ruts	No soil contact
Pond banks and coves	Hard to reach	Flies the shoreline
Hay close to cutting	Crushes the stand	No crop contact

Lake homes ring Cedar Creek and Lake Palestine, so operators map homes, docks, gardens and blueberry patches as no-spray zones and check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job.

Brush on the pasture edges

Henderson County sits where the Post Oak Savannah meets the Piney Woods, and pastures fill in from the edges with saplings, blackberry and vines. AgriLife's East Texas custom rates put ground brush spraying around $11.50 per acre and aerial brush work well above that, because woody plants need more spray volume. Drones spot-treat individual plants from mapped coordinates and broadcast dense regrowth, keeping spray off timber and yards. Treating saplings young costs far less than clearing them once they shade out the grass.

A Henderson County spray year

Window	Typical drone work
March to May	Annual broadleaves while small
May to June	Smutgrass, bahiagrass, pond weeds
June to September	Stem maggot after each cutting
Late summer to fall	Fall armyworm, perennial weeds
Fall	Fence rows, saplings

Texas licensing and airspace

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requires a Commercial Applicator license with the Aerial category plus a use category such as Pasture and Rangeland or Aquatic. Henderson County and its neighbors aren't on TDA's regulated-herbicide list. Athens Municipal Airport sits southeast of town, and Tyler Pounds has Class D airspace to the east. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and a Section 44807 exemption for drones of 55 pounds or more.