Title: Demonstrate procedures for calibrating a fertilizer spreader or injector.
Course: Landscaping I (18054-I) > Section: Maintaining the Landscape

Demonstration should include

- selecting the calibration method for the type of spreader being used (e.g., rotary, drop)
- using mathematical concepts
- selecting PPE for the tasks.

Teacher Resources:

- Accurate Application and Placement of Chemicals on Lawns, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- An Exercise in Calibration: Accurate Applications of Granular Products without Rotary Spreader Calibration, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Application without Calibration (video), Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Calibrating Your Lawn Spreader, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Calibration, T. David Reed, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Calibration of Sprayers, Part XVII of Agronomy Handbook 2023, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Fine Tuning a Sprayer with “Ounce” Calibration Method, Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Nutrient Management for Golf Courses, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Process/Skill Questions:

- What is the weight of fertilizer that must be applied in the calibration run to have the spreader deliver 1.6 pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet, assuming the swath width of the spreader is 3-feet, and the test strip is 100 feet long?
- How much fertilizer will be needed to apply 0.5-pound nitrogen (N) per 1,000 square feet to the turfgrass, when applying a 30-0-10 fertilizer at a rate of 1 pound of N per 1,000 square feet, making two coverage passes perpendicular to each other, with each pass delivering half the desired rate (0.5-pounds N per 1,000 square feet)?