A device to convert volume to wieght?

Hello,
don't you think it would make life a lot easier if there was some sort of device that could convert the volumes of various seeds to weight? Or even something that can convert the volumes of seeds to the area coverage required when scattering them?
It would be ideal, as it would save a lot of time and calculating.
Also, if this device was to take into acount the information, say for example the 15 or 20 most common different types of seed used, it would be a very convenient piece of kit. It would only take "one measure" to work out what is required, as oppose to lots of seperate measuring and calculating.
It would be a good product for home gardening and possibly professional horticulture as well.
Does anyone know if something like this already exists?
It would be good to know if it did.
Cheers
Joe

 

Hi, Welcome to Gardener'sCorner.

This sounds like a college design project!

I've been a professional gardener for 20 years... and I've never had the problem. most seeds come in small packets, you never need to know the weight or the volume, you just guess how many seeds you need to sow to get the number of plants you need... and sow them.... being human we always overdo it and get too many.. and thin them out.

It is annoying with some chemicals and grass ssed, which in the instructions, give an application rate of x grammes per metre... it's easier by volume, not weight, gardeners rarely have weighing scales,(and using the kitchen scales for nasty chemicals isn't a good idea... or even with dirty gardeners hands!) we all have measuring jugs and the like!... this is easilly solved by companies changing the instructons to ml per metre!

Converting any substance from weight to volume and vice-versa is easy! Weigh a given weight, pour it into a measuring jug, see what the volume is! To work out amounts needed for a given area, simple multiplication does the trick... it doesn't take long.

Seeds being a natural product may vary in weight/volume ratio

A good seed suplier will stock thousands of varieties, there is not really such thing as the most popular 20.

I'm not aware of such a convertion device, but I for one have never needed one!

 

Doesn't gut feeling just do the trick? I'm not very experienced but most of the things I've tried have had some degree of success, and the element of failure is not exclusively down to getting the quantities wrong. There are soil conditions to take into account, how many seeds will be eaten by wildlife, competition from other plants, weather conditions, care regime, etc etc. For small scale jobs such a device would be unnecessary, for larger scale, like planting out a couple of acres of meadow, the suppliers generally tell you how much seed you need for the area anyway, but even if they didn't, I don't think it would be too hard to judge.

 

I sometimes have to convert weights for various recipes - as all my favourite recipes that I have felt comfortable with over the years are North American and go by volume. Whereas, UK recipes are mostly by weight. There is a website that doest those conversions for baking ingredients, but haven't felt the need for it with seeds. As Clueless says - gut feeling.......and a few extra to be sure, and then I thin out.

I imagine that it might be useful for large scale farming operations.......but then, they only have a limited number of crops and could do just as suggested aboe - weigh a particular volume, and multiply it out!

 

Sorry Joe, but I think my education might have been lacking.
I'm not sure I understand your question, or why you would want to do such a thing.
As I understand things
mls is a measure of liquids
mgs is a measure of solids
Why anyone would want to convert mgs to mls, or vice versa, is beyond me.
If there is a formula I think I must have been absent that day.
The best I can come up with is
30 mls = 1 ounce = 30 gms
But don't take that for the gospel.

 

Modern farm machinery is all computor controlled, all singing and dancing and cleverer than an average farmer.. and needs degree to drive it! :lollol:

 

I just sprinkle seeds about until they look fairly evenly distributed. For very tiny or dark seeds, I mix them with a small amount of sand so that I can see where I've been. For something like grass where the instructions say '.. at the rate of x gs per square metre..', I lash together 4 bits of wood, each roughly 1m long, weigh out the recommended number of gs., drop the seeds in a plastic cup or similar then cut the cup down to that level or mark it on the side.

I have noticed on some seeds something like, 'This packet covers an area of up to x square metres' - which is fine, but who plants everything in neat metre blocks and life is far too short to even begin trying to work out how much of a square metre two short and one long row of something is, let alone a 'meander' of annuals!

 

It is impossible to convert volume to weight (or vice versa) unless you know what you are trying to convert
A ton of lead will weigh more than a ton of hay
There is a website that will calculate for you if you can give them the weight of a fixed volume ......

 

Too true whis4ey.....the website I use - you have to say 250 g of flour....and specify the type of flour to get the volume......even sugars, different sugars, different weights for volume etc. It does come in handy though for converting the '2 cups of flour' into grams.....very useful

 

hehehe
I have just realised what I said
'a ton of lead will weigh more than a ton of hay'
:D
A ton of lead and a ton of hay will weigh exactly the same ... a ton
Well ... at least Natalie knew what I meant ...... the volume would be totally different

 

I think a simple scales will sort most of the problems. Measure 1 cup of anything and pour it on scales and hey presto there's the weight! Also, it is possible to measure solids in volumes, ie a cupful of sugar. An average teaspoon is 5ml, a soup spoon 10-15. So if your seedpack says 2 grams and gives you about a teaspoonful it's fairly easy to convert to whichever measurement you need.
Then again, a teaspoonful of Lobelia seed will go much further than a teaspoonful of Sweat pea seeds, here I think the package instructions and experience will be more useful than a database or a tool to determine how many packs you need.
Also, as there's always a percentage of ungerminating seeds and the % varies from species to species, as well as the actual plant features (single speciement plant or Lobelia type "10 plants per pot" ) I find it hard to imagine a tool to cover this.

Then again, all new ideas are always welcome. Looking forward to hear more about the original idea!

 

Recently seeded an area of grass. Used a clear plastic jug (came with washing powder). Weighed out two ounces of seed, placed it in the jug and marked the level. For the other 30 or so square yards I just scooped enough seed to come up to the line. Simplesss as a Meerkat would say.

And many cooking measuring jugs show multiple measures for different ingredients.

And as for marking out the square yards - flour cheap as chips and biodegradeable.

Of course water is the easiest conversion between volume and weight (well mass actually) 1 litre of water - 1 kilo. 1cc = 1 gramme and a litre of water's a pint and threequarters

 

16 Tons and what have you got, another day coming, and a another day gone,
Ton of lead will weigh more than a ton of hay hay hayhayyyyyyyy just like the the riddle we had in school what weighs more a ton of feathers or a ton of coal whis4ey will know this I bet :usr:
nice to have a laugh methinks life`s to short, Back to the beginning I just put the seeds in my hand and of I go :gnthb:

 

I spotted it but just thought it was a joke When I was a kid my dad would randomly throw the occasional conundrum at me just for fun, and I'd answer off the top of my head. One of his favourites was 'what weighs most, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?'. I got it (probably not the first time tbh) but it usually caught my mates out.

His current favourite one that he uses if my friends come to help us on the land is when he explains that 'to catch a rabbit you have to make a noise like a carrot'.