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.