Application rate converter
Convert an application rate between kilograms per hectare, pounds per acre and the small-plot units on garden packaging.
That's 2× as heavy as a starter dressing, while a standard field rate is 1.5× heavier. On a 200 m² garden that is about 2 kg of product.
What it means
How much goes on the ground?
Fertilizer labels give the rate of product, not of nutrient. A 20% nitrogen fertilizer at 100 kg/ha delivers 20 kg of nitrogen.
Every unit
Your rate in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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1 kg/ha = 0.89 lb/acre
Close enough to think of them as nearly the same number, which is a useful sanity check when reading a foreign label.
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Per thousand square feet
American lawn products chose a unit close to an actual lawn, so homeowners would not have to divide an acre figure by forty.
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Product is not nutrient
Agronomists write rates as kilograms of nitrogen; bags are sold as kilograms of granules. Mixing the two over-applies by a factor of five or more.
Shortcuts
Popular rate conversions
Background
About application rates
Everything spread on land, from fertilizer to grass seed to lime, is specified as a weight per area. Farms use kilograms per hectare or pounds per acre; lawn products in the US use pounds per 1,000 square feet, which is why bag instructions never match farm advice.