Ag Drone Services in Gillespie County, TX for Brush, Pasture and Peaches

Ag drone service rates in Gillespie County

Ag drone services in Gillespie County, TX are priced per acre, application only. Texas drone rates average about $12 per acre for pasture and row crops, and $18–35 for pecans and orchards. Texas A&M AgriLife's 2026 custom rates put aerial brush spraying at $13.43 per acre in the South region and $19.08 statewide. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Pasture broadleaf herbicide	from $11/acre	Broomweed, ragweed
Mesquite and mixed brush	from $15/acre	May–June leaf spray
Prickly pear	from $16/acre	Pad coverage, higher volume
Peach and pecan insecticide or fungicide	from $20/acre	Curculio, brown rot, scab
Vineyard fungicide	from $22/acre	Downy mildew, black rot

Fields under 20 acres are billed as 20 acres. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect slope, tree cover, distance to vineyards and orchards and the spray volume on the label.

Ranch land, peaches and grapes

Rangeland and pasture make up about 78% of Gillespie County's 548,817 farm acres, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Livestock brought in 69% of the county's $38.2 million in sales.

Crop or livestock	2022
Hay and forage	9,698 acres
Peaches	1,053 acres
Grapes	639 acres
Pecans	510 acres
Cattle	31,872 head
Sheep and goats	34,758 head

The county ranks sixth in Texas for fruit, tree nut and berry sales. Of its 2,021 farms, 39% are under 50 acres, many of them weekend places and small ranches. Ag drone services in Gillespie County split between brush on rangeland and disease and insect work in orchards and vineyards.

Cedar, brush and oak wilt

Ashe juniper, the Hill Country's "cedar," doesn't resprout once it's top-killed, and small trees are the cheapest to control. AgriLife Brush Busters treats small cedar with leaf sprays, soil spot treatments or cutting. Drones spot-treat individual young trees from mapped coordinates and broadcast dense regrowth.

Oak wilt has killed millions of trees across 76 Texas counties. Live oaks are the trees to protect:

• Avoid wounding oaks from February through June, when the fungus spreads most easily.
• Map oak mottes as no-spray zones before brush work.
• Use products and droplet sizes that keep herbicide off oak canopies.

Mesquite: spray a healthy tree

AgriLife's 10-year study of mesquite timing found individual-plant kill of about 88–92% in May and 85% in June, falling to 56–68% in August and under 10% in November. The best results came from spraying healthy trees in full, dark-green leaf. Drought-stressed or insect-damaged trees should wait until they recover.

Prickly pear on Hill Country pasture

Prickly pear can be treated in any season with adequate soil moisture. AgriLife cautions against spraying wet pads, after three days below 50°F, or upwind of desirable plants. Pads die slowly over two to three years, so results are judged the following season. Dense stands may need a broadcast pass first, then spot work on survivors.

Peach orchards around Stonewall

The orchards along US-290 between Fredericksburg and Stonewall depend on tight spray timing. AgriLife's plum curculio program:

1. Petal fall: the first insecticide.
2. Shuck split: the second.
3. Every two weeks after: about four sprays in total through the season.

Curculio wounds let brown rot into the fruit, and stink bugs cause cat-facing. Drones fly over wet orchard middles after spring rain, when tractors can't get in.

Vineyards: disease and drift

The Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country AVA covers about 70,400 acres, all inside Gillespie County, with more than 75 wineries. In 2024, Hill Country growers saw above-normal Pierce's disease plus downy mildew and black rot after late rains. Drones fly vineyard fungicide when wet ground keeps sprayers out.

Grapes are also the county's most drift-sensitive crop. A 2019 Texas survey found herbicide damage in 176 vineyard blocks covering more than 575 acres. Operators check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck, keep wide buffers from vineyards during pasture and brush work and avoid growth-regulator herbicides near registered vines.

Granite, limestone and the Pedernales

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Rocky limestone hills	Tire damage, rollover risk	Follows terrain
Granite country near Enchanted Rock	Can't reach	Flies from the road
Pedernales River bottoms after rain	Ruts	No soil contact
Brush along fences and draws	Slow hand work	Spot-treats from coordinates

The Pedernales River and its creeks are mapped as no-spray zones before the first flight.

Airport and park airspace

Gillespie County Airport (T82) sits about 3 miles southwest of Fredericksburg. Drone flights on Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park land near Stonewall need the superintendent's written approval. Operators check airspace and temporary flight restrictions for every field before takeoff.

Texas licensing for drone application

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) licenses drone applicators. Commercial operators need a TDA Commercial Applicator license with the Aerial category plus a use category such as Pasture and Rangeland or Fruit, Nut and Vegetable. Gillespie County is not on TDA's regulated-herbicide county list. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and, for drones of 55 pounds or more, a Section 44807 exemption.