Mulching yards and gardens is important for many reasons. One cheap type of mulch that you can use is pine straw mulch. Using this mulch is easy, but you need to know how much you need.
Read this article for some tips on calculating how much pine straw mulch you need.
Here are some things you should consider.
Table of Contents
Calculating How Much You Need
1. Consider Your Budget
Before starting any major project in your garden, you need to know what you need to purchase and how much.
In the case of mulching your yard, you only need pine straw mulch. Many stores sell pine straw mulch for around $5 per bale. You shouldn’t spend more than $10 per bale.
2. Know the Exact Amount of Pine Straws in a Bale
Each pine straw bale contains around 50 pounds of pine straw. You can ask your seller for the exact size and weight for a more accurate measurement.
3. Measure Your Garden
To know how much pine straw mulch you need, you must know the area of your yard. You can use a measuring tape to find the area (length multiplied by width), which is usually measured in square feet.
4. Decide the Depth of Pine Mulch
Many gardeners use a depth of 2 or 3 inches of mulch.
The deeper the mulch layer, the more effective it will be. However, a higher depth means more bales of mulch for you to buy.
After deciding what depth you want, you will calculate the number of pine straw bales you need.
5. Calculate the Amount of Pine Bales You Need
If you want to cover your yard with 2 inches of mulch, you need 1 bale per 100 square feet. For 3 inches of mulch, however, you can only cover 75 square feet with 1 pine straw bale.
Assuming that your yard is 1000 square feet and you want a mulch depth of 2 inches, you will need 10 bales of mulch. However, you will need 15 bales to cover the yard in 3 inches of mulch.
Note that you may need even more mulch, especially if the ground is bare.
6. Know When to Replace Your Straw (or Add More)
You can use your pine straw mulch for 4-6 months, depending on the amount of rainfall and sunlight. You will know when the mulch needs to be replaced or topped up, as it will no longer be effective and not as deep.
7. Use a Mulch Calculator
If you are not a fan of math and you just want to know the exact amount of mulch that you need, you can use any online mulch calculator.
You only need to input the measurements of your yard and your preferred mulch depth.
Benefits of Pine Straw Mulch
Here are some reasons to mulch your garden or yard with pine straw:
1. Insulates the Soil
Gardeners need to wait until the soil is just right in terms of moisture and temperature before they plant. Many wait until mid-spring so that their plants do not die, due to the low soil temperature.
To help warm up the soil for planting, you can use mulch.
Mulch helps insulate the soil by trapping the heat from sunlight and not letting it escape. Using mulch allows you to start the growing season earlier.
2. Prevents Quick Drought
When you water your plants, the water either gets absorbed by the plants, escapes into the soil, or evaporates back into the atmosphere.
If you are growing plants that require consistently moist soil, you need to mulch them, especially in summer, when the heat can evaporate the water in the soil.
Mulch traps water vapor and prevents it from escaping the soil. When you mulch your soil, you do not need to water your plants as often.
3. Prevents Erosion
Is your yard prone to erosion? Have you come out of your home after a storm and seen your soil (and plants) scattered all over the place? It is probably due to loose soil or the very fast flow of water.
To help reduce or eliminate erosion from your soil, you should use mulch.
Mulching helps prevent erosion by breaking the speed of water flow. This means that rainwater will not hit the soil directly, protecting your plants. Mulching can also help keep your plants from moving.
4. Prevents Weeds and Pests
To some extent, mulching can help prevent the growth of weeds and pests. Weeds spread their seeds by different methods, but if a seed does not find soil to anchor in, it will not grow.
Likewise, seeds that are already in the soil will not grow because the pine straw mulch blocks sunlight. This means that your plants will not compete with others for the nutrients in the soil.
Some pests, such as grub worms and fungus gnats, love digging into the soil. This can damage your plants. Mulching helps reduce the number of pests that can reach the soil, so your plants will be safer.
5. Acts as Slow-Release Fertilizer for Plants
After the 4 to 6-month period that you use the mulch, it will start to break down, releasing nutrients into the soil. Even though there are not as many nutrients, mulch can help amend and enrich your soil.
If you choose to add an extra layer of mulch above the decomposing mulch, you should reduce your watering; the old layer below will trap extra moisture.
If you choose to replace the old mulch, you can use it as a source of carbon for your compost pile.
As you can see, you should mulch your garden with pine straw mulch so that you can enjoy its many benefits.
Conclusion
Use pine straw mulch in your garden and yard for its many benefits. To know the exact amount of mulch that you need, use the calculation tips in this article.
Resources
- https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/library/landscaping/pine-straw-as-a-ground-cover-mulch
- https://www.gardenguides.com/105837-calculate-much-pine-straw-needed-landscape.html
- https://cumminglawnservice.com/how-to-spread-pine-straw-like-a-pro
- https://bloomngardens.com/blog/pine-straw-vs-mulch-in-atlanta-ga
- https://custompinestraw.com/pine-straw-coverage-calculator.html