Soil Amendment Coverage Rates

"What's the coverage rate?" It's one of the most common questions we are asked by our customers pertaining to mulch and straw. Here's a quick reference guide to help address this and other frequently asked questions.

Pine Straw

  • The average bale of pine straw is nearly 4 cubic feet.

  • Most customers spread the pine straw to a depth of 2 ½" when they are working in an area that hasn't had pine straw previously. You can expect that a bale will cover approximately 40 square feet.

  • If a customer is over-strawing an area that has previously been covered in pine straw, you can expect that same bale to cover approximately 70 square feet.

Wheat Straw

  • When you are spreading the wheat straw by hand, one bale will cover approximately 500 square feet.

  • If you are using a blower to spread the wheat straw, one bale will cover approximately 1,000 square feet.

Mulches

One 3CF bag will cover:
12 square feet                      3" deep
18 square feet                      2" deep
36 square feet                      1" deep

One cubic yard will cover:
108 square feet                    3" deep
162 square feet                    2" deep
324 square feet                    1" deep

Note:  Nine 3CF bags or fourteen 2CF bags are equivalent to 1 cubic yard.
A pallet of 3CF bags usually contains 45 bags so it is equivalent to 5 yards of bulk