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Thank you for the kind comments. We like to share what we have going on hoping that it will help somebody else along the way. That’s cool. You’re in the Houston area. I’ll actually be down that way in the coming month or two. I’ll be delivering a T50 to a gentleman in Victoria. I will also be down in the Needville area soon. If you’re looking for any assistance, navigating the process of getting set up to be a custom applicator here in Texas happy to help. We are an authorized dealer for Agri Spray Drones, which are the largest distributor of DJI Agras drones in the country. Would love to get you set up with some equipment if you’re still in the market and haven’t bought any yet. If not, that’s cool too just letting you know. Hit me up sometime 817-659-3211

Thank you very much!

It really depends on your position. I went all in because I believed this was the industry I wanted to not only get into but scale a business up and go back with it. You could certainly do both, but it comes down to whatever you’re comfortable with financially. We definitely invested a lot upfront, but have big plans to back that up.

Rate is very dependent on where you are located. For us between 15 and $18 per acre is on average but it can be higher for more difficult properties. We’re not talking about running full speed on wide-open corn or wheat. We’re talking more pasture work with obstacles and complexities.

We’ve been keeping busy. We plan on scaling the business up, but we are also authorized dealers for Agri Spray Drones and DJI. We’ve been doing a lot of work selling drones and equipment in Texas as well as spraying acres.

Hey there, thanks for reaching out. Honestly, I’m not worried about it and am running full steam ahead. Just bought a $70,000 new drone trailer to add to the Fleet as well as my second T50. I just don’t think it will pass the Senate, and given the fact it would impact such a huge part of our economy, not only an agriculture, but surveying, inspections, photography and others. Having said that you never know in this hyper politically charged Landscape.

Good afternoon and thank you for the kind comments. Weather has been keeping me out of the field recently, but looking to get back after it. Hit me up anytime 817-659-3211.

Thanks for the kind comments! Yeah, the deck on top is nice. I thought about building it full length but really just use it for observation. Here is a link to the electrical cord and receptacle box for a 50 amp circuit. Good luck with your build! a.co/d/3pfQtUW

Shoot me a call 817-659-3211 or jm@vortexag.com

We spray many things, but primarily herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other aerial applicated products. I don’t get into specific products we use on social media, but we use recommendations from local agronomist and adhere to label instructions. Thanks for commenting!

Honestly, I don’t think it’s feasible for them to ban one company when almost the entire drone market is comprised of drones made in China and the ones made here are sourcing parts from there. It seems unlikely that an entire industry not just agricultural would be shut down with a ban like this. We are talking about a massive impact to our economy this would bring so I just can’t fathom it happening. I understand the government contracts not being awarded but what drone manufacturers would fill this void if a ban were to be imposed more broadly? Who knows but I’m full speed ahead.

Thank you! Much appreciated

We used the T40👍 Our T50 arrives tomorrow!

So we have two T40’s currently and just got our first T50. We have another T50 coming in a couple of weeks.

Hey there, thanks for the compliments. I have been planning on posting an update video showing how I split the plumbing and added a second pump for freshwater. I was getting some cross-contamination into my freshwater tanks, which is never good even as careful as I was being with the valves. I run two CT6 HF pumps, one for freshwater and jug and tank rinse and one for agitation and filling the drones. I will say they are advertised as being 30 minute duty cycle so not sure if that is the best choice for agitation and drone filling. In a perfect world, you would want that running all day, which I have done lots of days with this pump without issue. Just not sure if that will be a problem down the road or not.

Hey there my cell is 817-659-3211. Tomorrow is good for me if you want to give me a call.

Hahaha!! It’s there just out of the frame. Behind the person filming me👍🏻😎😁

Honestly, it’s all over the place depending on region. Some areas struggle to get 10 or $12 per acre and others get north of $15-$18 per acre. I’m sure the demand will drive that price in either direction.

Thanks!! Been busy, but trying to get more content up to share our experiences and lessons learned in the field

Thank you for all the kind comments and for reaching out. Yes the plumbing can be a bit daunting when you’re mapping it out, especially if you haven’t done it before. I had designed the layout of the components and then had a guy put together all the plumbing for us. Since that video, we have actually changed it even more for the better. Happy to chat about it anytime. 817-659-3211.

Thank you! It really depends on what we’re doing. A lot of the acres we have been working our range or pasture work, which can be a lot slower going and more complicated with many obstacles and varying terrain. Also access to the pastures can be difficult so those will all cost more. The field crops like corn and wheat are in that $15/acre range. Range and pasture $15-$20/acre depending on difficulty. You in the biz? Or a producer?

@@VortexAdvantageAg thanks for the info. We are producers. Maybe a dumb question: how do you price out the chemical? Or do producers provide you with what they want sprayed ?

@austinporter1546 not a stupid question at all, and you will see that there are all kinds of answers to that question. We personally like to pass along savings to our customers, but need to make some margin on the product we spray if I’m going to handle the logistics of getting it on the job. I would say the margins are between 10 and 20% on the product. That can also be used as wiggle room for negotiating on larger jobs. Ultimately you want your full application fee and the product margin is a bonus. That’s how I look at it anyways.

Thanks brother!! Getting busy up here. How are things down there? My cell is 81 76593211. I respond better with text.

We try our best to move the music around and accommodate everyone’s liking. Sorry to hear you didn’t like it. Oh well you can’t please them all.

Hey there thank you for the kind comments. I love the community in the drone agricultural sector. Everyone has been very thoughtful and complementary. Regarding the clamps, I used to strap the drone down. I actually got the idea from someone else in the community and have provided a link here on Amazon. a.co/d/bWBNPCA. The one thing I would say, could improve them, is somehow getting rid of the metal on metal contact between the landing gear and the buckle. When you strap them down, there are two positions you can use over the landing gear. One is tight, and the other one stretches the rubber strap further, and gets it tighter. I would suggest using that tighter setting on the strap if you were drone is higher up off the floor or something. I don’t know that I would trust these if my drone were sitting on the back of a flatbed truck or something like that, but inside a trailer, they were great, and I’ve never had them come off. they have slid off the base of the buckle front or back, but the buckle did not come undone. That’s because the metal on metal allows it to slide more so than it would if there were some rubber in there somehow. I thought about cutting a 6” piece of 1 inch hose and then cutting it down the length of it, opening it up and gluing it to the bottom of my landing gear as to provide a nonslip skid type thing. That would definitely solve the problem of it. Sliding off the buckle. The Lang actually rests on top of the buckle unit. would be better in my opinion if there were two separate pieces to the buckle and the lager directly on the surface but that’s not how they’re made.

Thank you. We are running a different drone. It's the Hylio AG-272. Trying to get our storage/tender trailer finished up. I do enjoy your videos. Everything well thought out. Thanks again. Neil

@neilflanagan202 awesome sounds like you’re well on your way to getting something going if you’re not already. We initially put a deposit down on two Hylio AG230’s but changed our mind and decided to run DJI. Nothing against the folks down Hylio, they were very nice and I’m sure we do great things. I just hated having to give up the efficiency. We saw the 272 in action down there when we visited a thing is a beast. Might be a handful getting in and out of a trailer moving from field to field but if you can make that process efficient you should be good. Maybe create some sort of dolly That you can scoop it up once the arms are in their upward stowed position.

Thanks a bunch! Appreciate the positive feedback. Acquiring customers is something that comes with knowing how to market yourself and the belief that you can provide a better service than the next guy. Just get yourself out there in front of decision-makers in your area who can drive business your way.

Thank you! I don’t mind answering at all. The guy who helped me plumb the tanks on the trailer said that he installed that valve as a way to manage the maximum PSI the pump would get. If you notice the handle is taken off of the valve. We have it set to roughly 28 psi and if I’m not mistaken, the flowserve CT6 has a max psi of 30. In hindsight, I read that the pump ( a diaphragm pump) has a built-in pressure relief bypass system so I’m not sure why exactly that third valve was needed but that was the intended use of it. hope that helps!

Hey there. Yes I do and got that design idea from Taylor Moreland @agrispraydrones. I had initially purchased the fuel pump style nozzle, which was a GPI I believe. The downside of that which I believe is a big one Is that when you insert that nozzle into the quick fill hole of the T40 tank cap and let go while it’s filling, the 1 inch hose with product and the pump itself puts a lot of stress on that plastic cap. In other words, it is pulling downwards on the side of the cap and I’m sure that cap would break over time . If you look at the way, we’ve created a “U” on either side of the ball valve It rests nicely onto tank and the tank itself bears the weight of the hose and the valve rather than the cap. I’ve been using the banjo 1 inch ball valve with 1 inch, 90° barbed elbow on the inlet side, and a 1 inch to three-quarter inch barbed valve on the outlet side. If you lightly grind off the barbs on the outlet side, it fits perfectly into the speed fill cap hole.

@@VortexAdvantageAg thank you sir! I hope to have a rig setup like yours soon.

Awesome man happy to help anyway, I can.

Hey there! Given the price of pumps and the fact that you already have a bunch of 12 V I would go that route if I were in your shoes. The converter I bought at camping world has been working great. It just converts the AC power from the generator to 12 V, and that pump is the only 12 V I have pulling from the converter. Either way you go, you’re pulling power from the generator as you know. You could also back that up with a battery in the event the generator wasn’t running for short periods of time it could run off the battery. The remote switch has been working awesome. It has pretty good range I would say. I keep it clipped on my belt loop and turn the pump on and off when I’m at the drone I’m just gonna filling up or at the tank mixing station mixing up a batch.

By no means is it a perfect system and not trying to sell it as a perfect design or system. Just sharing our setup with folks who are interested in seeing it. We haven’t had compatibility issues running the herbicides We’ve been spraying with a combination of four different products. Two are always surfactants (MVO- Xtra and Downforce) and the other two chemical for target species. I keep the tank well agitated constantly, so it just hasn’t been an issue thus far. Laying down Rezilon, glyphosate, Triumph 22K, etc I’ve been working just fine without the inductor. My next set up will be much smaller and have a larger hot load tank. I think having 300 gallons of whatever I’m spraying for the day already in one large tank will be more efficient than having to mix new batches constantly as the day goes on. I’m constantly learning what is more efficient with every job I do.

Thank you!

That’s a great question, and as I understand it, the EPA is aware of the shortfall with regard to labels not applying to the use of drones. I believe that will change soon with the drastic increase in use of drones in agriculture. I never provide recommendations for a specific chemical or application rate. I rely on Field agronomist who work for the chemical companies to provide the recommendation. I stay in my lane as the applicator not the agronomist. We only use chemicals that are approved for aerial application so far. That has been my experience.👍🏻😎

My pleasure!

The video with 2200 views is probably the most detailed.

We can carry 800 gallons of fresh water on the trailer. This is more than most have set up here in the USA. At a 2 GPA rate we can hit 400 acres without needing more water. I also have a 275 gallon IBC tote I can add to my flatbed truck to provide up to 1000 gallons with water to cleanup with.

Thank you!! Really appreciate the kind comment. I put a lot of time and effort into researching what I thought would work best. Is it perfect? No, but we will strive to make any changes we need to to increase efficiency of operations.

Thank you so much! It’s been a long time in design and putting together over the past year but I think it turned out nice and I’m getting a lot of comments like yours. Feels good to see people appreciate the work you’ve put into something. It’s not a practical trailer for every application but then again, what is? I would say this trailer is very well suited for larger fields with good road access. I will be building smaller more mobile and maneuverable units moving forward and keep this as the “mothership“

One of my best friends has a house in Chile and loves it. It’s right on the coast at an epic surf spot called Pichilemu.

Apologies for the delay in responding to your comment. The swapping of the batteries is a fairly straightforward process and should be secondary to starting to fill the drone tank when it comes in for a landing. Our process is to be ready with the fully charged battery at the time the drone is landing. Once the propellers stop spinning, we place the fill nozzle into the drone cap and open to start the filling process. Then we turn off the battery in the drone, pull it out, and replace it with the new battery and turn it on. By the time the drone tank is full the drone has reconnected And is ready to takeoff again. Then just rotate that battery you just pulled out into the charger so you have another one on deck fully charged when the drone comes back. I run four batteries per drone so as to not ever have to wait on anything charging

I think your best course of action is to network with chemical suppliers in your area and do free demos for them in order to show them the efficacy of your work, and earn their business. Big jobs will come along with small ones at the beginning take what you can get. That’s what we’ve done, thus far but commitment to growing your business is key. What state do you live in? If you are constrained by the financial side, getting started, I would put together a really compact one drone spray rig set up. This can easily be done in the back of a long bed pick up truck if you do it right. This will keep your start up costs way down not having to buy a trailer. Obviously getting on Really large fields. You would prefer to have more infrastructure to support that but I think with a T40 and a pick up truck set up you can do some serious work

Thank you, and I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment. We are definitely not anywhere near $400 K on this build out, but more than half of that for sure with everything. I’ve done a lot of stuff myself, which can cut quite a bit of cost down. For instance, I built the deck on top and installed all of the hardware, including the ladder myself. All of the parts and interior organization. I put together, but paid a company to build the aluminum shelving units and install the water tanks and plumbing associated with it. I have done some modifications to that myself as well. The point of this build wasn’t to show off or anything like that. The goal was to hopefully impress the folks I work for and show them I’m not playing around and am fully invested in this. The reaction I get when pulling up to a field and meeting with the Farmer is definitely “this guy ain’t messing around“. I’m already planning how the next trailer will be built and I definitely will do some things differently although this is a pretty darn nice set up based on the feedback I’ve received thus far.

@@VortexAdvantageAgthis is very inspiring sir well done . I am planning on starting my own business soon here in Virginia. Do you pick and choose your products you apply or do you allow your customers to pick ? Do you have the contact information for the company or people who help you with your build? I saw your upgraded version and was wondering if you have a material break down of how this was built also thanks for your help.

@@VortexAdvantageAg GREAT REPLY AND BEST WISHES!!!

@@anthonykontos7931 always get the good people to help you and always and i mean always make sure you pay them for their wisdom --- nothing is free and you mean well, i get it --- but some don't - use team work alway.

Thank you!👍🏻

Good question. The main reasons I went with two generators instead of one were twofold. The first reason is for redundancy of my two drone operation. If one genny happens to go down on a particular day I am not completely dead in the water and can run one drone until I resolve the issue. The second is cost. I can buy four of the smaller ones for the cost of one big one ($900 vs. $3800 each). I also had the need for a new whole home backup generator so the big one will fill that role and be a backup to the drone operation if needed👍🏻

Gotcha. Another question. I keep thinking ahead for the future for my drone operation of bigger drones which will require bigger batteries, thus more power to charge them. The 9500 rw westinghouse is a great generator but if the future gets even bigger, wouldnt they become undersized and have you buying bigger, more expensive generators again?

@theohiofarmer5631 that is certainly a possibility. However, if things go the way, I hope they do I will run these things long and hard so I presume I will get my 900 bucks out of them either way. Unless you are on really large fields, I don’t see needing more than two drones on one rig set up. I think if I had the need for more power. I would go over to a diesel generator although they are crazy expensive.

@theohiofarmer5631 I am learning what works and what doesn’t along the way just like most are at this time. This industry is moving at a very fast pace with the technology and awareness of this type of application. I’ve had to do a lot of things twice because the first attempt may have not been as efficient as it could have been.👍🏻

Got it. I ran the dji generator for 2023 season and it was great but i only ran 1 t40 last year. This year i have 2 rigs with 2 drones per, and the generators cant be as close to the operator as it was this past season. With that said, im considering selling my dji generator and getting either the 28k westinghouse like what you have for 1 rig and the 9500s for the other, or 9500s everywhere. My theory is that i can (for the cost) do an even swap of the 28k Westinghouse with the dji generator (as far as $ i would get back from it). Then, if the future is much bigger, i at least have 1 generator sized accordingly and capable of handling the larger pull. Just bouncing ideas around as of right now

Thank you very much for your kind comments. We feel the same way. There’s plenty of work out there and if you do your craft well, you will stand above the rest so that’s not been a worry of hours. Best of luck to you and yours and have a merry Christmas!

Hey there thank you for your kind comments. It’s greatly appreciated. You can get those tanks which are referred to as doorway tanks because they can fit through a doorway at large plastic tank suppliers like plastic-mart. in fact, here is the item description and SKU as well as part number. They’re nice because they have the baffle in the middle which minimizes sloshing. Norwesco 400 Gallon Plastic Doorway Water Storage Tank in White SKU N-44361 Manufacturer Part 44361

@@VortexAdvantageAg thank you so much!

My pleasure!

You’re welcome, my friend!

Hey there Daniel thank you for your kind comments. We are overwhelmed with the amazing comments. People are making about our set up. Feel free to reach out anytime. 817-659-3211.