Method and Apparatus for Automated Plant Necrosis

A farming machine comprising:

• a camera configured to capture images of a field comprising a plurality of plants as the farming machine travels through the field;
• a plurality of spray treatment mechanisms;
• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
• access an image of the field comprising the plurality of plants, the image captured as the farming machine moves through the field on a current pass;
• apply a machine learning model to the image to localize the plurality of plants within a plurality of field regions of the image, the machine learning model configured to:
• classify pixels in the image as a plant of the plurality of plants;
• and
• localize the classified plant of the plurality of plants into a field region of the plurality of field regions, the field region being a two-dimensional area in the image;
• select, for each field region of the plurality of field regions, a spray treatment for the plant localized in the field region based on characteristics describing the localized plant;
• and
• send treatment instructions for each region of the plurality of field regions to the plurality of spray treatment mechanisms of the farming machine, the treatment instructions indicating the spray treatment to apply to each region before the farming machine travels past the region in the field on the current pass.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for a farming machine to treat a plant in a field comprising a plurality of plants, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to:

• access an image of the field comprising the plurality of plants, the image captured as the farming machine moves through the field on a current pass;
• apply a machine learning model to the image to localize the plurality of plants within a plurality of field regions of the image, the machine learning model configured to:
• classify pixels in the image as a plant of the plurality of plants;
• and
• localize the classified plant of the plurality of plants into a field region of the plurality of field regions, the field region being a two-dimensional area in the image;
• select, for each field region of the plurality of field regions, a spray treatment for the plant localized in the field region based on characteristics describing the localized plant;
• and
• send treatment instructions for each region of the plurality of field regions to a plurality of spray mechanisms of the farming machine, the treatment instructions indicating the spray treatment to apply to each region before the farming machine travels past the region in the field on the current pass.