According to the product label, I need to apply somewhere between 1.5 lb and 2 lb per acre of a particular fire ant bait. Using a Herd Seeder, I collected the following information:
- Length of test strip: 200 feet
- Distance across which bait was distributed (swath width): 23 feet
- Amount of bait placed in the spreader: 32 oz = 2 lb
- Amount of bait remaining after applying bait to the test strip: 29 oz = 1.8125 lb
The Calculations:
- Area treated = length X width = 200 X 23 = 4,600 square feet
- Amount of bait applied = weight before – weight after = 2 – 1.8125 = .1875 lb
- Bait per acre = 43,560 X bait applied/area treated = 43,560 X .1875 lb/4,600 = 1.77 lb per acre
Conclusion: I am applying the correct amount of fire ant bait, between 1.5 and 2 lb.