Measure area in cubic feet. Width times length and multiply by thickness (whatever application requires, generally from 3-4 inches thick on new beds).

Example:    A flower bed is 20 feet long by 4 feet wide and application will be 4 inches thick. (Four inches equals 1/3 of a foot).

                  20' long x 4' wide x .334 = approx. 27 cubic feet

 

Bagged Mulch

In this case, 27 cubic feet of bark mulch is needed to cover the entire bed four inches thick. Using bags (most bags are 2.5 or 3 cubic feet) divide mulch requirements by the cubic feet per bag to get the quantity of bags needed.

Example:    27 cubic feet needed divided by 3 cubic feet per bag equals nine bags.

Area in feet to be mulched / Quantity per bag ------> 27 / 3 = 9 bags needed to cover entire area.

 

Bulk Mulch

Buying bark mulch in bulk, take the cubic feet needed to cover entire area and divide by 27. (There are 27 cubic feet in one cubic yard).

Example:     27 cubic feet needed divided by 27 cubic feet per cubic yard equals one cubic yard

Producing Bark Mulch

Raw bark is gathered in the sawmill. Before a log is sawed into lumber, it passes through a debarker which removes the bark. The bark may be passing through a hammermill or shredder.

As much as 15 percent of a trees volume is bark. For every 1000 board feet of lumber manufactured, about 1200 pounds of green (fresh) bark is produced.

 

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