PestBossPro Blog — Chemical Records & Compliance

Building a Pest Control Tank Mix With Rates Per Gallon

Most pest techs do not apply one product at a time. They fill a tank with water, add a concentrate, maybe add an insect growth regulator, and spray the result. The application record needs to know what was in that tank and how much of each product went out. That is what a mix is for.

From Products to Mixes

Mixes are built from products, so products come first. If you have not flagged which products need records yet, read The Track Chemicals Flag: Deciding Which Pest Control Products Get a Record before building mixes.

In PestBossPro, a mix is a named recipe made from your products, with a rate per gallon for each one. Once it exists, the tech app uses it to work out what to load for the day and what was applied at each stop. The record then shows the mix used, each product in it with its rate and total amount, and the total applied.

What a Mix Looks Like

Here is the shape of a typical perimeter mix. The rates are placeholders; yours come from your labels:

• Name: Perimeter Mix — Quarterly
• Product 1: a bifenthrin concentrate, at your label rate in fluid ounces per gallon
• Product 2: an insect growth regulator, at its label rate per gallon
• Carrier: water

A mosquito barrier mix might pair a pyrethroid concentrate with a growth regulator at different rates suited to foliage. An interior mix might be a single non-repellent product at a crack-and-crevice rate. Each is its own named mix.

Always check that the products in a mix are allowed to be tank-mixed and that each rate falls inside the label's range for the site and pest. The software keeps the rates you enter; the label decides what those rates can be.

Why Rates Per Gallon

Rates per gallon match how techs actually mix. A tech filling a 2-gallon backpack and a tech filling a 50-gallon power rig both start from the same recipe; they just multiply by a different number of gallons. When the record knows the rate per gallon and the gallons applied, it can show the total amount of each product used.

That is the field people forget on paper. A logbook might say “perimeter spray, 3 gal” and leave the reader to work out how much active product that was. A mix with rates per gallon answers the question directly: this many gallons of finished mix, which means this many ounces of product one and this many of product two.

Rates per gallon also make it easy to compare. If the perimeter mix runs at the same rate per gallon on every truck, then any difference in product used between two similar houses comes down to gallons applied, which points you straight at technique or sprayer output instead of at the recipe. Keep the recipe fixed and the variable becomes visible.

How Many Mixes You Need

Start with the mixes your techs actually run. For most residential companies that is a short list:

• A quarterly perimeter mix for exterior foundation and eaves
• An initial-service mix if you use a heavier rate on the first visit
• An interior mix for crack-and-crevice work
• A mosquito barrier mix for the season program
• A lawn insect mix if you treat turf for fleas, ticks or grubs

Resist building a new mix for every small variation. If one tech adds a little extra here and there without a recipe, the fix is a conversation, not another mix. Fewer, well-defined mixes make records easier to read and chemical reports easier to total.

Naming Mixes So Records Read Well

The mix name shows on every record, so name it for what it is. “Perimeter Mix — Quarterly” tells a customer or inspector what happened. “Mix B” or “Joe's blend” does not. Include the service or the use, and leave the product details to the product lines underneath.

If you change a mix, such as swapping one active ingredient for another during a rotation, consider whether it should be a new mix with a new name. That keeps records before and after the change clearly separated. More on that in Changing a Pest Control Mix Mid-Season Without Muddying Your Records.

Mixes and the Day's Work

Once mixes exist, they connect the office to the truck. The office sets up the recipe once. The tech app uses it to work out what to load for the day's treatments, and at completion it records what was applied. The chemical report adds it all up for any date range. One recipe, used everywhere, means the numbers agree from the warehouse shelf to the record.

For how mixes fit with products, records and reports, see the PestBossPro chemical tracking software page.