RE: CULT: boron toxicity - ant bait question...

I haven't heard back from the Terro folks, but I did find enough information to do a little math, sort of...
The bait is 5% Borax. The ants ate about 2 containers worth which the package says are 30 cc each. When my brain was younger, I probably could have figured out how to convert that to total grams or lbs of Borax, but not now.
Google says 60 ml is ~4 Tablespoons (who knew google would do conversions!). If 5% by volume is Borax, that's about 0.2 Tablespoons of Borax.
Some recommended application rates for boron deficient soils that I found on the web are 1 tablespoon of borax per 100 ft2 or 0.25 to 3 kg/ha.
If I spread all my potting mix on the ground about 6 inches/15 cm deep, the depth "normally" assumed to be the plow layer, I'd guess it would come about 6 ft2 or 2 m2.
Using an application rate of 1T/100ft2, that comes out to 0.06 Tablespoons per my estimate of 6 ft2.
If I've done the estimating correctly, and if both containers of ant poison are really completely mixed into the potting soil, that could be as much as a whopping 30X the 1 Tablespoon per 100ft2 application rate I found on the web. 

Yikes!
Would some of you chemists out there check my calculations to see if what I've done makes sense?
Another tidbit I found: A saturated solution of Borax in water is 6.3% at room temperature, close to the 5% concentration in the Terro syrup bait. 
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>
Region 7, Kentucky-Tennessee <http://www.aisregion7.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index