From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Sort of Sunny Sometimes, WA

Okay, this has probably been posted a million times before but please humor me. Could someone please give me a fool-proof method for calculating ammendment application for 10,000 sq. feet? For instance I get my soil test back and it says I need to add 30# of Orange Pretty stuff per 1,000 square feet. I get to the Orange Pretty store and the Orange Pretty only comes in 0-24-0 (the OP is the middle number. . we're pretending) and in 15 lb. bags. Orrrr. . . I need to apply 15 lbs of Green Shiney per 100 square feet, but I can only get Green Shiney at 33% in a 20 lb bag. ???? I hate math.

2/21/2008 6:42:44 PM

Here in the Midwest we have "helpers" in the Orange Pretty stores,,,I look for the person with thier shoes off and ask them to do my math !

2/21/2008 7:16:20 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Erin, here is something I kept from awhile back to figure out how much per 1000 sq. ft. It works;

A simple way to figure how much fertilizer is needed to get one pound of nutrient is to divide the percentage of the nutrient contained in the fertilizer into 100. For example:

Recommendation: Apply 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.

Fertilizer: Whitney Farms Blood Meal.

Nutrient Content: 13% Nitrogen.

Calculate: 100/13=7.7 pounds of Blood Meal needed to supply 1 pound of nitrogen. 7.7 X 2=15.5 pounds of Blood Meal per 1,000 square feet.

2/21/2008 7:31:48 PM

i hope i am right:

30# OPS per 1000 but you have 10,000 so you need
300#. right.
now, how many pounds of the OPS are in each 15 pound bag...
24% of 15 pounds= 15 X .24 = 3.6 pounds of OPS per 15 pound bag. (25% would be 3.75 lbs. or 15/4)
divide what you need by what you have in each bag =300# div. by 3.6# per bag = 83.333333 bags of 0-24-0
in 15 pound bags, assuming that the formulation is done by weight 0-24-0, the 24 meaning 24 percent of the product by weight is the OPS. love your terms--ha h ha

GS---
20lb bag of GS x .33=6.6 pounds per bag of Green Shiney, lol...
...divide what you need by what you have per bag
=15 pounds divided by
6.6# of GS per bag and you need 15/6.6=2.272
(about 2-1/4 bags) of the GS. for your 100 SF.
(X that by 100 for your 10,000 SF.)

OH, MY GOD, IF I AM WRONG STRIKE ME DEAD.
sorry, i spent about 1/2 an hour figuring this out for the
benefit of myself as well as anyone looking here. no sense
in deleting it.
indeed, if i am wrong, i will seek to have my response removed from this board.
just figure how much of what you need is each bag and
then divide your total need by that to give you how many bags you need to dispense over your soil area.
>>>anonymous, lol<<<

2/21/2008 7:55:06 PM

ps-while the other answers were being typed i was typing mine---i shoulda kept my fingers quiet but in the end,
i am all charged-up now to do some amendments, lol---

2/21/2008 7:57:14 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Ok Erin,

Here it is. I'm no teacher, but I can tell how to arrive at the amswers simply enough.

Orange Pretty: there are 30 pounds of Orange pretty required per 1000 square feet. Think of the word "per" as "divided by". 30 divided by 100 equals .03. So there are .03 pounds required per square foot. Multiply this by your total square footage. .03 x 10,000 equals 300 pounds total Orange Pretty required.

Now, 0-24-0 means 24 pounds of Orange Pretty per 100 pounds of total product(or 24%). 24% of 15 pounds is 3.6. So there are 3.6 pounds of Orange Pretty per 15 pound bag.
300 pounds of total required Orange Pretty divided by 3.6 pounds per bag equals 83.33 bags.

Same goes for the Green Shiney. Total Green Shiney per bag is 33% of 20 pounds.

2/21/2008 8:03:37 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Ditto what pumpkinpal2 said. By the time mine was finished, there were others ahead of me.

2/21/2008 8:05:35 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Sorry Erin. Should have read "30 divided by 1000 equals .03.

2/21/2008 8:09:38 PM

Sort of Sunny Sometimes, WA

I'm sorry, I probably should have said "easy fool-proof method"

2/21/2008 8:29:27 PM

I'm tellin ya,,,the barefoot geek with the pocket protector is the best bet ;-)

2/21/2008 8:45:16 PM

Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

I'm with Dan...

2/21/2008 9:43:53 PM

Johnston, R.I.

I aint got a pocket protector...........

2/22/2008 12:12:36 AM

well, it is just like when you look at the price of a
twelve pack in the cooler, and then you fumble through the cash in your hand---
'THERE' is what you need,
(your needy soil)---
'HERE' is what you've got
(per bag of fert.)---
you have GOT to figure-out both things, unfortunately.
it will become easier.
unless you do it only once a year, lol---
eric out

2/22/2008 3:17:29 AM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Calculation:

Going to use Potassium as an example since I had to do this tonite:

Desired potassium Level = 400 ppm
Actual level as per soil test = 50 ppm
To be applied = 350 ppm
The conversion ppm K to lbs per acre (x 2.4) 840 lbs per acre

1 acre = 43560 sq feet
Sq ft of garden = 2100 (approx 20.7 times smaller), so I divide the 840 by 20.7 and get a total of 40 lbs of Potash needed.
I recommended Sulphate of Potash 0-0-50, this doesnt mean 40 lbs of 0-0-50, the numbers reflect how much % of the particular nutrient is in the bag, so in a 40 lb bag of 0-0-50, 50%, or 20 lbs would be potassium.
This grower would need 80 lbs of 0-0-50 to raise his potassium to 400 ppm.

2/22/2008 6:13:25 AM

[email protected]

Something went hay wire there.

Have: 50ppm
Want: 400ppm
Need: 350ppm x 2.4 = 840 lbs/acre divided by 43.56 = 19.3 lbs/1000 sq ft.
This is 19.3 lbs of potassium as an element per 1000 sq ft so...
19.3 lbs wanted X 2.1 (Tom has 2100 sq ft) = 40lbs potash total.
But the sulfate of potash (0-0-50) is only 50% potassium as an element so...
19.3 lbs divided by .50 = 81 lbs of sulfate of potash 0-0-50 per 2100 sq ft.

81 lbs of 0-0-50 per 2100 sq ft tilled to 9" will yield an increase of 350 ppm.

There is also a 70% (approximate) fertilizer efficiency factor but let's not complicate the matter further.

2/22/2008 8:07:23 AM

Berlin,mi.([email protected])

wow you guys make my head hurt. I just do a little of this and a little of that. lol. Maybe I won't get that soil test after all.

2/22/2008 8:10:47 AM

southwest MO

Just get a good all purpose organic fertilizer and apply at 1/2 the label rate... I doubt you will have anything deficient. Use some myco at the label rate and it will help scavenge nutrients if you are on the low end of things. You can always drench with some fish and sea weed through out the season depending on the growth your seeing.
I saw Epsoma has a product at Lowes now that has organic fert. and myco...

2/22/2008 9:56:07 AM

Sort of Sunny Sometimes, WA

Oy

2/22/2008 10:34:03 AM

Massillon, Ohio

Last year I bought 200 lbs of cornmeal at an old time feedmill. I felt like I had stepped back in time. Farmer Clyde said, "I'll get it......you ring it up Clem." 4 bags....$2 each. Clem said," Let's see......that would be 4 times 2"......pause...pause.....think....think...."Well maybe I'd better try 2 times 4"!!!!!

2/22/2008 4:53:36 PM

heh heh

2/22/2008 5:02:21 PM