Module 4:

Materials

4.4 How much is needed?

4.4.9 Other pesticides: fungicides; insecticides; bio-pesticides

A pesticide has an application rate of 1.5 litres of concentrate per hectare. It can only be used on no more than 15% of a pitch at any one time.

What is the maximum amount of concentrate that can be applied to a 7,000m² pitch on any single occasion?

1. Do you need some initial help with the calculations?

The pitch area is 7,000m².

The maximum percentage of an area that can be sprayed at any one time is 15%

Calculate the maximum area of the football pitch that can be sprayed.

Hopefully this helps you do the remainder of the calculation by focusing just on the required values.

2. Do you need some more help with the calculations?

Don't forget that 15% can be represented as 0.15 in the calculation, so 7,000m² x 0.15 = 1,050m².

The application rate is 1.5 litres for 10,000m². For a general area of 1,000m²the amount of concentrate is therefore 1/10^th (or 10%) of this figure, i.e. 1.5 x 0.1 = 0.15 litres.

Can you now work out the final maximum quantity that is beinga sked for?

3. Do you need some other help with the final calculation?

15% of the pitch area is 1,050m².

For a general area of 1,000m²the amount of concentrate is 0.15 litres.

The allowable football pitch area is just a very small bit more (actually 5%) than the general area given.

So, 1,050 ÷ 1,000 and then multiplied by the 0.15 litres needed for the general area (of 1,000m²) arrives at the correct answer.

There can be another way to arrive at a correct answer, but hopefully the above approach has been clear

1 A specific fungicide will usually only control a limited range of turf diseases, so it is essential (and a legal requirement) that only the correct fungicide is used for the correctly identified disease.

One example of a broad-spectrum product is Heritage Maxx Turf Disease Control 3L (with the active ingredient being Asoxystrobin), which can be used (April 2025) for the control of some of the more common turf diseases of the more intensively maintained pitches, including Anthracnose and Microdochium. It has an application rate of 2.5 litres (of concentrate) per hectare. A maximum of 4 applications per year are also permitted with this chemical. For a pitch of 7,000m², this would then use 1.75 litres of concentrate per application.

2 An insecticide which can be used (April 2025) for the control of chafer grubs and leatherjackets is Acelepryn Insecticide 3L (with the active ingredient being Chlorantraniliprole). It has an application rate of 0.6 litres (of concentrate) per hectare. A maximum of 1 application per year is permitted with this chemical, with it being applied prior to the hatch of eggs so that the has permeated well into the rootzone so as to control young grubs when they emerge. This particular chemical has a restriction on its use in that the total surface area that is treated can be no more than 10% of the total area of managed turf. In theory then, a football pitch of 7,000m² cannot, therefore, have more than 700m² treated, which in practice is probably more than enough area for most infestations.

3 Bio-pesticides, such as Sportnem-T Leatherjacket Killer or Sportnem-H Chafer Grub Killer each at 2x500m² packs for treating 1,000m² should be adequate for any infestation on a football pitch. If the infestation is even more widespread then greater quantities would be needed.

Module progress: 87%

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