How many one-pound bags of a fertilizer with an NPK of 20-5-10 should you apply to 2,000 square feet to meet a rate of 2 pounds of actual Nitrogen per 1,000 square feet?

To determine the number of one-pound bags of fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 20-5-10 needed for an area of 2,000 square feet, given a desired application rate of 2 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet, it’s essential to first understand the nitrogen content of the fertilizer.

The NPK ratio of 20-5-10 indicates that there is 20% nitrogen (N) by weight in the fertilizer. For a one-pound bag of fertilizer, this means that there are 0.20 pounds of nitrogen in each bag.

Since the requirement is to apply 2 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet, for an area of 2,000 square feet, the total nitrogen needed would double to 4 pounds (2 pounds x 2,000 square feet/1,000 square feet).

To find out how many bags of fertilizer are needed to provide the required 4 pounds of nitrogen, you can use the amount of nitrogen in each bag. Since each one-pound bag contains 0.20 pounds of nitrogen, the number of bags needed to obtain the required 4 pounds of nitrogen can be calculated by dividing the total nitrogen needed (4 pounds) by