Drone Spraying for Citrus in California
Drone spraying and foliar nutrition for California citrus groves — navel oranges, lemons, and mandarins — with coverage into the canopy and low drift between tight blocks.
Get a quoteWhen to spray citrus
Citrus treatments run year-round in California: dormant and post-bloom pest control, fungicides for stubborn disease, foliar nutrition (zinc, manganese, iron) timed to flush, and thrips and scale control through the season. Tight spray windows and tight grove spacing make drift control central.
Drone application flies a mapped route above the canopy, driving product into the tree with a tuned droplet size while keeping it out of the neighboring grove — important where navel blocks sit close together.
Typical applications
Typical citrus applications include insecticides for scale, thrips, and Asian citrus psyllid, fungicides, and foliar micronutrients. Drone passes apply these at controlled volumes into a dense, rounded canopy.
Why drones fit citrus
Citrus canopies are dense and rounded, so coverage into the interior is the challenge. A drone's downward airflow and tuned droplet size drive product into the canopy rather than bouncing off the top.
Grove borders are tight, often with roads or other groves next door; low flight height keeps product on the target block.
How Virelo works with citrus growers
Virelo flies citrus groves from the San Joaquin Valley to the Central Coast, tuning droplet size and flight height for the dense, rounded canopy that makes citrus coverage a challenge. Our pilots coordinate with your PCA to time scale, thrips, and psyllid treatments to the right window, and our GPS-guided flights put product into the tree rather than bouncing it off the top.
On tight citrus blocks where navel groves sit close together, a drone's low flight height keeps product on the target and out of the neighboring grove. A drone also flies when the ground is too wet for a rig, which on irrigated citrus ground is often the day a treatment is most needed, with no compaction on the shallow root system.
Aerial application footage
Virelo aerial application in progress.
What we fly for citrus
Can you spray navel oranges and lemons?
Yes. We tune droplet size and flight height for dense citrus canopies.
Do you handle citrus psyllid treatments?
Yes — we apply psyllid controls with drift management between blocks.