Horticulture Hotline 01/22/24
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Getting a spreader setting for a bag of fertilizer or control product is generally based on the person walking three miles an hour. If you get on a treadmill and set it for three miles an hour, you will realize that is a pretty fast pace. If you have a setting and you walk faster, then you are putting out less product and if you walk slower, you are putting out more product. Curvy bed lines and how we turn around is also a factor because of overlapping the product or slowing down for turns.
If you know the square footage of your yard, you will know how much product should go on that area. If you have a 4000 square foot area and are trying to put out 4 pounds per thousand square feet of product then you know you need 16 pounds of the product. You can then get a bucket and a bathroom scale and pour 16 pounds of product into the bucket, Then, pour the product into the spreader, spread the product over the area, and see whether you are going to have too much or too little product. Keep good notes on what setting you used, what product you were spreading (due to particle size and bulk density), what rate you were trying to spread, what area you were spreading (back yard might be bigger and more rectangular so you might walk faster), and what spreader you were using.
Knowing the square footage of your grass areas and bed areas are key to applying any fertilizer or control product correctly. Whenever we sell a bag of fertilizer at Possum’s we are going to ask, “how big is your yard?” We need to know if you need one bag or more than one bag. Some of our bags might be able to treat your yard twice. That is nice to know because that cuts the price per application in half, and lets you know you still have product waiting in the garage for your next application (like finding that McDonald’s French fry at the bottom of the bag). During the winter is a great time to get out there and measure the yard.
I can remember several times hearing different variations of this same answer to my question while at the counter at Possum’s. “How many square feet is your yard?” Rough answer,” well, last year I put out that bag that covers 5000 square feet and it was perfect for my yard, so I must have 5000 square feet.” Sorry, wrong answer.
Based on a pound of nitrogen, we sell 50-pound bags that cover as much as 23,000 square feet and as little as 1000 square feet. Unfortunately, the bag does not know the size of our yards or how fast we walk.
In the old days, yards were mostly square or rectangular, and they were easy to measure. Now most yards have curvy bed lines that sweep across the landscape, making them more difficult to measure. If you can break the yard up into little squares or rectangles, and measure the length and the width then you can get your square footage. Length multiplied by width will give you your square footage. Add up all the squares and rectangles that you measured the square feet of, and you will come up with the square footage of your yard.
If this sounds like total “Greek or Geek” to you, ask a landscaper, a realtor, a landscape architect, someone that works with floors or carpets, an engineer, a construction worker, someone who pours driveways, or anyone else that regularly needs to measure the square footage of something to help you. Some golfers are good at pacing off areas. Your plat map from when you purchased your house might help as well.
Now, there are even websites that you can log onto and they will tell you the square footage of your yard. Of course, I like to do it the old fashion way – length times width.
I know this measuring seems like a pain, but most of us stay in a house for several years or decades. A little pain spread over several years of having very useful information is worth it.
Once you measure the yard, put the measurements in about 5 to 10 locations throughout your house, your car (so you have it with you when you go to buy product) and the garage, so you do not lose them. Come into the camera phone age and take a picture of the measurements so you have the information when you come into the store. I have learned over the years that I put information like that in one “special place” so I do not lose the information. I then forget where that “special place” is!
Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com
