John Deere has been pursuing the idea of making use of herbicides directed by goal recognition cameras for a number of years now, and to date it has achieved some success with its See and Spray utility system.

See and Spray works by what John Deere refers to as ‘inexperienced on brown’ identification. This refers back to the recognizing of inexperienced weeds on brown soil, which is a matter of color recognition somewhat than selecting out weeds by form or measurement.

A number of cameras

The corporate claims nice success within the US with reductions of as much as 66% in herbicide utility, and it has now launched the system in Europe.

See and Spray john deere
When inexperienced is detected the place there must be none, the nozzles are triggered to spray the offending plant

The cameras and different {hardware} elements are built-in immediately into the increase or chassis of the machine. One digicam is mounted per metre of working width, which locates the inexperienced weeds.

As soon as the software program recognises a plant, the suitable nozzle or nozzles are triggered individually for spot or restricted space remedy.

Pre-emergence and past

The inexperienced detection on the sphere soil allows a focused utility of pre-emergence herbicides. John Deere tells us that each one weeds seen to the attention are detected by their system.

Inexperienced on brown means that the system is just appropriate for pre-emergence remedy, but the corporate disagrees, saying that it may also be utilized in row crops after emergence.

Self propelled sprayer john deere canopy
See and Spray can be utilized proper up till closure of the crop cover

The crop rows themselves could be could be recognized by the sprayer and thus the weeds between the rows could then be focused for remedy.

That is potential in any respect phases and for all row crops proper up till the cover closes, permitting the grower a further remedy by See and Spray within the rising crop and so extending its window of use.

Thorough testing for See and Spray

The system has undergone in depth trials underneath totally different circumstances. It has already been examined on about 120,000ha worldwide.

John Deere claims that the success in utility is similar to broadcast spray, however with a saving of as much as two thirds of consumption, a determine that has been replicated in Europe, giving Deere the arrogance to go forward with its launch this yr at SIMA.

See and Spray Choose is already bought as an choice with the self-propelled sprayers within the US. These machines would be the first available on the market in central Europe this yr.

From early 2023, it is going to be accessible on a restricted foundation for the European R900i collection trailed sprayers with 36m and 39m booms, and can then be provided as an choice for varied John Deere sprayers from Horst sooner or later.