Herbicide Rate Calculator

To apply herbicide correctly, you must first measure the area of the field that you would like to treat with the herbicide. Fields is rarely of perfect shape. Instead, fields may contain many different shape, such as rectangles, circles, triangles, or patch of land with no specific shape.

Measuring the area of the field that you will treat with herbicide are essential to determining the amount of herbicide that you will need to purchase and that you will need to mix into the area. If you measure the area of the field incorrectly, then you will incorrectly calculate the amount of herbicide that you will need. For fields with a rectangular patch of land, you can find the area of the field by multiplying the length of the field by the width of the field.

How to Measure Your Field and Use Herbicide

For fields with a more circular patch of land, you can find the area of the field by multiplying the square of the radius of the field with the mathematical constant pi. For each herbicide that is manufactured, there will be a label that details the herbicide product the manufacturer made. The label will include the dose of the herbicide that you are required to apply to the field.

It is important to distinguish between the amount of herbicide product and the amount of active ingredient that the herbicide contains. For instance, the herbicide may contain 360 gram of active ingredient per liter of the herbicide product. To find the amount of herbicide product that you need to apply to the field, you will need to divide the amount of grams of the active ingredient that is required by the concentration of the herbicide product.

The herbicide label will also detail the spray volume that you should apply to the fields with the herbicide product. The spray volume will determine how much water is used to prepare the herbicide solution that will be applied to the field. If the spray volume is too low for the amount of acreage of the field, the concentration of the herbicide may be too high for the crop in that field.

In this case, the herbicide may burn the crops. If the spray volume is too high for the amount of acreage of the field, then the concentration of the herbicide may be too low for the weed that are present in the field. In this case, the herbicide may not effectively kill the weeds in the field.

You also need to take into account the capacity of your sprayer tank. The sprayer tank will have a total volume to which you can fill the tank with the herbicide solution. However, you should only fill the tank up to 90% of the total volume to allow for the movement of the sprayer tank; if you filled the tank to the maximum amount of volume, the herbicide may splash out of the tank as the sprayer turns.

You will need to calculate how many times you will need to refill the sprayer tank to apply the herbicide to the entire field. It is also recommended to add a 10% buffer to the total amount of herbicide that you calculated for your field; this 10% buffer will ensure that you can cover the field without having to refill the sprayer tank too many time. Another important step before applying the herbicide to the field is to calibrate your sprayer.

To calibrate the sprayer, you can run clean water through the nozzles to determine the actual output of the sprayer. This value should match the amount of spray volume that you calculated when you read the label of the herbicide. Spray volumes may be 15 gallons of water per acre, 20 gallons of water per acre, or 25 gallons of water per acre for fields with thick vegetation.

With metric measurements, spray volumes may be indicated in liters of herbicide per hectare of the field. When you begin to mix the herbicide with the water that will be sprayed onto the fields, you must follow a specific order of step to ensure that the herbicide is mixed properly. First, you add water to the sprayer tank.

You then add the herbicide product to the water. By adding the herbicide product slowly to the water, you can prevent the formation of foam within the sprayer tank. Lastly, you begin to agitate the sprayer tank to begin circulating the herbicide solution within the tank.

After you finish spraying the herbicide onto the fields, you must clean the sprayer tank and the nozzles of any remaining herbicide; if you do not, the herbicide may build up within the sprayer tank and nozzles. Finally, there are several environmental factor to consider prior to applying the herbicide to the fields. For instance, you should avoid spraying the fields when the weather is extremely hot; spraying the fields under these condition may cause heat stress to the plants in the fields.

Additionally, you should avoid spraying the fields if there are high wind in the area; the herbicide may drift from the fields that you are treating for the herbicide. Lastly, you should also consider the moisture content in the soil. If the soil in the fields is too saturated, the herbicide may run off the fields rather than being absorbed by the plants.

By considering each of these step, including measuring the area to be treated, reading the label to calculate the proper amount of herbicide and spray volume, calibrating the sprayer to the field area, mixing the herbicide properly, and considering the environmental factor of the fields, you can ensure that you apply the correct amount of herbicide to the fields to effectively treat the weeds.