Aerial seeding

Aerial seeding is a technique of sowing seeds by spraying them through aerial mechanical means such as a drone, plane or helicopter.

Arial seeding is considered a broadcast method of seeding. It is often used to spread different grasses and legumes to large areas of land that are in need of vegetative cover after fires. Large wildfires can destroy large areas of plant life resulting in erosion hazards. Arial seeding may quickly and effectively reduce erosion hazards and suppress growth of invasive plant species. Aerial seeding is an alternative to other seeding methods where terrain is extremely rocky or at high elevations or otherwise inaccessible.

Aerial seeding is also often used to plant cover crops. Below is a small list of plants that are often seeded by this method.

According to the National Agricultural Aviation Association, the birthplace of aerial seeding in America happened 1921 in Ohio. Lt. John A. Macready, a U.S. Army pilot, used a modified Curtis JN-6 to dust a field of catapla trees with arsenate to kill sphinx moth larvae. This early crop dusting lead to aerial seeding.

Aerial reforestation, a type of aerial seeding, specifically to repopulate forest land after some type of disaster was being used as early as the 1930s. Planes were used to seed mountain areas in Honolulu that were inaccessible to traditional methods after forest fires.

By 1946 aerial seeding was being used in Oregon to seed more than 500 acres of Douglas fir, and Port Orford cedar as well as 100 acres of grassland and other trees that were burned by fire. In 1947 the Crown Zellerbach Corporation seeded over 1000 acres in Oregon.

Surplus planes from World War II were initially used for aerial seeding, with the open cockpit Stearman biplane used frequently. Because many veterans were trained to fly these planes, this led the way for many people to develop a business around aerial applications. Today professionals use planes powered by turboprop engines and are navigated by GPS for better accuracy.

The major advantage of aerial seeding is the efficient coverage of a large area in the least amount of time. Aerial seeding facilitates seeding in areas that otherwise would be impossible to seed with traditional methods, such as land that is too hard to reach by non aircraft or ground conditions being far too wet. Aerial seeding may be used when existing crops are already planted. This is important when living in an area where there is a small window between harvesting the crop and the end of the growing season, because seeding cover crops after harvest can cause poor stand establishment due to cold temperatures or moisture.

...
Wikipedia