Medina County, Texas
Ag Drone Services in Medina County, TX
Trusted crop protection services for farms across Medina County and surrounding areas. Licensed applicators, modern equipment, and reliable scheduling.
Our Services in Medina County
Complete crop protection solutions tailored to local conditions in Texas.
Herbicide Application
Targeted weed control for row crops and pastures across Medina County.
Insecticide Spraying
Seasonal pest management programs designed for Texas growing cycles.
Fungicide Treatment
Preventive and curative treatments to protect yields in Medina County.
Custom Application Plans
Field-by-field recommendations for farms throughout Medina County, Texas.
Service area
Fields and pastures across Medina County plus a 40-mile radius, from Castroville and LaCoste to D'Hanis, Devine and Natalia. Typical response: 24 hours.
Verified operators near Medina County
Be the first verified operator in Medina County
Growers here are already requesting drone spraying. Operators with FAA Part 137 and a Texas license get the first requests.
Ag drone services pricing in Medina County, TX
Ag drone services in Medina County cover two very different jobs: cleaning up brush and broadleaf weeds on grazing land, and protecting irrigated and dryland corn, wheat, cotton and sorghum. Rates below are application only. Product is billed separately at cost, or you can supply your own.
| Service | Typical rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Row-crop herbicide | from $11/acre | Corn, sorghum, cotton, wheat; 2–3 GPA |
| Fungicide or insecticide | from $10/acre | Flag leaf, tassel or pest-threshold passes |
| Harvest aid / PGR (cotton) | from $10/acre | Defoliation and growth regulator passes |
| Pasture and hay broadleaf | from $11/acre | Ragweed, broomweed, thistle |
| Brush (mesquite, huisache) | from $14/acre | Leaf spray at the right growth stage |
| Orchard blocks | from $18/acre | 5–15 GPA, multiple passes |
For comparison, the Texas A&M AgriLife 2026 Custom Rate Survey puts South region aerial application at $11.72 per acre for herbicide, $10.65 for insecticide or fungicide and $13.43 for brush. What moves a quote up or down: total acres, distance between tracts, brush density, the water volume the label requires, and how much of the job is spot spraying versus broadcast. Jobs are billed on a 25-acre minimum per trip, so small neighboring tracts are often combined into one visit.
What Medina County actually grows
The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture counts 2,204 farms on 634,224 acres in Medina County, with an average size of 288 acres. Livestock brings in 55% of the county's $82.6 million in sales, and the county runs about 37,000 head of cattle plus 5,145 goats and 2,717 sheep. That makes grass and hay the largest spray market, not grain.
| Crop | Harvested acres (2022) |
|---|---|
| Forage, hay and haylage | 29,593 |
| Corn for grain | 10,056 |
| Wheat | 6,424 |
| Cotton | 3,477 |
| Grain sorghum | 2,143 |
About 35,754 acres in Medina County are irrigated, roughly 6% of farmland. Vegetables and melons add $3.5 million in sales, so there are high-value fields next to the grain and pasture ground, which matters for drift planning.
Drone application jobs we schedule in Medina County
- Broadcast herbicide in corn, sorghum and cotton, including passes after rain when ground rigs would rut irrigated rows.
- Fungicide on wheat at flag leaf to heading and on corn around tassel.
- Insecticide when scouting shows sugarcane aphid, worms or cotton pests over threshold.
- Cotton harvest aids and PGRs without driving through mature rows.
- Pasture and hayfield weed control, broadcast or as spot passes from a mapped field.
- Individual-plant brush work on mesquite, huisache and prickly pear where a broadcast pass would waste product.
- Granular spreading and seeding, plus mapping flights that turn a field into a spot-spray prescription.
Every application is flown by FAA Part 137-certified operators holding a Texas Department of Agriculture commercial applicator license with an aerial category.
Brush and pasture weeds on Medina County grazing land
Brush is where a drone earns its keep in the northern half of Medina County, where the Hill Country edge makes tractor work slow and fences, draws and rock limit access. Texas A&M AgriLife Brush Busters lists mesquite, huisache, pricklypear, cedar, Macartney rose and yucca as the main targets, and mesquite and huisache are both handled with leaf sprays.
Mesquite timing
A ten-year AgriLife data set on mesquite shows why the calendar matters: May treatments reached about 88–92% mortality, June about 85%, August 56–68% and November under 10%. Late spring, once leaves have fully matured, is the window to book.
Huisache timing
Huisache responds best to fall leaf sprays, roughly September through November once soil temperatures drop below 75°F. Booking huisache work after the mesquite season spreads brush acres across the year.
Pasture broadleaf
Broadleaf weeds in hay and grazing land are cheapest to control while they are small and actively growing, before they shade out bermuda or set seed. A drone can treat a hayfield between cuttings without leaving wheel tracks in the regrowth.
Row-crop pests and diseases to watch around Hondo and Castroville
Sugarcane aphid in sorghum. AgriLife guidance treats at 50–125 aphids per leaf, or when about a quarter of plants are infested at 50 or more per leaf. Populations can reach that level by May. Labeled products give about 7–10 days of residual control, and good coverage under the leaf is essential, which is why canopy downwash from a spray drone helps.
Stripe rust in wheat. Stripe rust has been reported next door in Uvalde County, and AgriLife runs wheat variety trials at Castroville. The disease favors nights of 50–60°F and slows once temperatures climb above the low 70s. Flag-leaf fungicide is the timing that usually pays; early passes rarely do.
Corn and cotton. Corn fungicide passes cluster around tassel, and cotton work runs from PGRs mid-season to defoliation at the end. A drone can make each pass without driving through tall or mature rows.
Medina Lake, the Edwards Aquifer and careful application
Much of the county's irrigated farming traces back to Medina Lake, built in 1911–1913 for irrigation and owned by the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Improvement District No. 1. After a long drought the lake sat at 6% capacity in mid-2025 and recovered to about 22% by July 2026 after floods. All of Medina County lies in the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone under TCEQ rules (30 TAC §213). Farming is excluded from those regulated activities, but the lake bottom leaks into the aquifer, and the Medina River, Hondo Creek and Verde Creek all cross farm ground. Operators set buffers along creeks, avoid spraying ahead of heavy rain and keep tank mixing away from wellheads.
Medina County spray season by month
| Months | Typical drone work |
|---|---|
| February–March | Wheat weed control, early pasture broadleaf |
| March–April | Wheat flag leaf and heading fungicide |
| April–June | Corn and sorghum herbicide; sugarcane aphid scouting |
| May–June | Mesquite leaf spray; pasture weeds |
| June–July | Corn fungicide at tassel; cotton PGRs |
| August–September | Cotton harvest aids; hayfield passes |
| September–November | Huisache leaf spray; fall pasture weeds |
Airspace near Hondo and Devine
South Texas Regional Airport at Hondo (HDO), 2 nautical miles northwest of town, is untowered with Class E airspace starting at 700 feet above ground, well above spray altitude. Devine Municipal (23R) has one 3,399-foot runway. Operators still monitor local traffic, check NOTAMs and use LAANC where it applies, especially near the airport and toward the Bexar County line.
Texas rules that apply in Medina County
Medina County is not on the Texas Department of Agriculture list of regulated-herbicide counties under 4 TAC §7.53, and neither are Bexar, Uvalde, Frio, Atascosa or Bandera. That means no county permit for 2,4-D or dicamba products, though label limits and drift liability still apply. For-hire drone work in Texas requires:
- A TDA commercial applicator license, including the Aerial Application category and a site category such as Pasture & Rangeland.
- FAA Part 107 remote pilot certification and registration for each aircraft.
- FAA Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certification.
- A Section 44807 exemption for drones of 55 pounds or more.
What Medina County farmers say
Frequently asked questions
How windy is too windy for a drone pass?
Most labels and operators stop above about 10 mph, and they also avoid dead-calm hot afternoons when temperature inversions can carry fine droplets. In Medina County that usually means early morning or late-day flights. If conditions change mid-job, the pilot pauses and finishes when wind settles.
What happens if it rains right after spraying?
Each product has its own rainfast interval, often 30 minutes to a few hours for systemic herbicides and fungicides. If a storm is forecast inside that window, the pass is moved. If rain hits sooner than expected, the operator reviews the label and the flight log with you before any re-treatment.
Do I have to buy the chemical myself?
No. You can supply product you already have, or the operator sources it and bills it at cost on a separate line. Either way the label and your agronomist's recommendation decide the rate.
How do I prepare a pasture with heavy brush?
Mark water troughs, feeders, guy wires and any tall power lines on a map or share a pin. Move livestock out if the label has a grazing restriction. Point out stock tanks and creeks so buffers can be set before the flight.
Can you spray near my neighbor's vegetables or bees?
Yes, with planning. Pilots check for registered sensitive sites and hives, keep a downwind buffer, choose coarser droplets and fly only when wind blows away from the sensitive area. Telling us about neighbors in advance helps.
What paperwork do I get after the application?
You receive a record with date, time, field boundary, product, rate, water volume, wind and temperature. Many landowners keep it with their ag valuation and lease files.
Can a drone treat just part of a field?
Yes. A mapping flight or your own scouting map can mark patches, so the drone only sprays those zones. On scattered brush this can cut product use sharply compared with a broadcast pass.
How do I become a drone spray operator in Texas?
You need FAA Part 107 and Part 137 certification, a TDA commercial applicator license with the Aerial Application category, and an exemption for heavier aircraft. Many new pilots start by working under an established operator.