Drone Spraying in Lake County, MT for Hay, Weeds and Cherries

Drone spraying prices in Lake County

Drone spraying in Lake County, MT is billed per acre, per pass, application only. Operators listed for the county quote $9–19 per acre, with Montana typical at $13 in 2026, and statewide listings run $12–18 before chemical. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Alfalfa and hay	from $12/acre	Weevil, aphids
Noxious weeds	from $12/acre	Knapweed, spurge, toadflax
Wheat and barley	from $12/acre	Herbicide, flag-leaf fungicide
Potatoes	from $14/acre	Where labeled for aerial use
Cherry orchards	from $15/acre	Higher spray volume

Each visit has a $250 minimum. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect acres per trip, canals and wetlands nearby, slopes and the spray volume on the label.

Hay, potatoes and cherries

Lake County had 1,078 farms on 596,272 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, with $69 million in sales, 56% from crops.

Crop or livestock	2022
Hay and forage	45,905 acres
Wheat	9,506 acres
Vegetables	2,276 acres
Potatoes	2,172 acres
Corn for grain	1,789 acres
Cattle	30,222 head

The county ranked first in Montana for fruit, tree nut and berry sales and second for vegetables and potatoes. About 78,500 acres are irrigated, and 57% of farms run under 50 acres, so drone spraying in Lake County covers many small fields alongside larger hay and grain ground. MSU put the county's median farm at 40 acres in 2017 and listed spring wheat, potatoes, barley, canola and dry peas among its main crops. Alfalfa and other hay cover about 35,900 acres on 331 farms, and orchards about 660 acres on 211 farms.

The Flathead Irrigation Project

The Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, authorized in 1908, serves about 135,000 acres through 1,300 miles of canals and laterals and 17 major reservoirs. Since 2010 a cooperative entity of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Flathead Joint Board of Control has run it. Operators map canals, laterals and reservoirs as no-spray zones and use only products labeled for use near water.

Flathead Lake cherries

Most of Montana's cherry farms sit along Flathead Lake's east shore in Lake County, growing mainly Lambert and Lapin on small blocks that averaged about four acres in a 2002 study. Growers' spray programs include dormant, petal fall, fruit fly, leafhopper and postharvest passes. A drone treats hillside blocks without a sprayer in the rows, on the timing your fieldman sets.

Seed potatoes in the Mission Valley

Montana is a major source of certified, disease-free seed potatoes, and multi-generation potato farms near Ronan run their own seed labs. Seed fields are held to strict disease standards, so passes follow the grower's program and labels closely. A drone treats potato fields without wheel tracks through the rows or across irrigated ground.

Rain, fruit flies and cherry harvest

Flathead cherry growers have paid around $30 an acre for helicopters to dry trees after rain to limit splitting. At a grower meeting in Polson, a Washington grower described spotted wing drosophila control as a spray every seven days through four to six generations a season. Short, frequent passes on small blocks suit a drone.

Alfalfa weevil thresholds

MSU Extension sets the alfalfa weevil threshold at 20 larvae per sweep or 1.5–2 larvae per stem. Egg laying starts once daytime highs pass 50°F. After first cutting, regrowth is treated if eight or more larvae per square foot are found under windrows. MSU also warns that pyrethroids can flare aphids, so product choice matters.

Noxious weeds

Spotted knapweed, leafy spurge, Dalmatian toadflax, Canada thistle, houndstongue, St. Johnswort, sulfur cinquefoil and oxeye daisy are all on Montana's Priority 2B list of abundant, widespread noxious weeds. A drone applies about 2 gallons per acre, compared with up to 20 by hand, and reaches rocky slopes and field edges. Lake County Weed Control and MSU Extension in Ronan offer local guidance.

Ninepipe and the Bison Range

Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1921 about five miles south of Ronan, covers 4,027 acres of reservoir and wetland used by nesting grebes, geese, herons, ducks and osprey. The CSKT Bison Range near Moiese covers about 18,500 acres and has been managed by the Tribes since 2022. Both are mapped as no-spray zones, with wide buffers on fields that border them.

Reservation and trust lands

Most of the county lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation. In Indian country covered by EPA's plan, EPA rather than the state issues certifications for restricted-use pesticide applicators, and Tribes can add requirements. Operators confirm Tribal and EPA requirements before any job on trust land.

Montana licensing

The Montana Department of Agriculture (MDA) licenses commercial drone applicators under classification 18, Aerial, with proof of insurance and FAA aerial requirements met. The business holds an FAA Part 137 certificate, and pilots hold Part 107.

A Lake County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
Early spring	Dormant passes in cherry orchards
May	Alfalfa weevil, broadleaf weeds in grain
June	Knapweed and spurge, wheat flag-leaf
June to July	Cherry fruit fly passes
July to August	Potato passes, weevil on regrowth