staw mulch, sq feet per bale?

[hazmat]

I am currently renovating part of my lawn. I will be seeding in the next couple of weeks. I plan to use weed free straw as mulch for the grass seed.

Anybody know how many square feet per small square bale I should plan on?

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Just spread 6 regular sized bales yesterday. I like to apply mine quite heavy and I'd guesstimate somewhere between 6 and 8 hundred sq. ft. / bale. I'll do some measuring tonight to give you a better idea. Best to spread upwind with a stiff breeze and use a pitchfork. Stick a couple of pillows. raise the fork about eye level and start shaking with a sweeping motion. Goes pretty fast. I spread 6 bales in less that an hour.

 

[RichZ]

Cowboydoc will probably correct me on this, but in my brief farming experience, the amount of straw in a bale is very variable, depending on how the baler is set. Straw can't be compressed as tight as hay, so the bales tend to be looser, and the amount of straw and even the size of the bale can greatly vary.

 

[hazmat]

I've got 2000 +/- square feet to cover. The bales are cheap, but I'd like to make one trip. I'm thinking 3 bales? or should I buy 4? Do I hear 5? Sounds like an auction /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Tinkerman]

Hazmat,

I'd vote for 5 for your job. I recently took out a couple of pine stumps and needed to harrow and reseed. It took me two bales for about 800 sqft, putting the straw down about 1/2 - 3/4" thick.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

I measured last night and this area is roughly 2500 sq' and I used 6-50# bales. Could have used 7. See attachment

 

[hazmat]

Kevin,

Nice photo!!!! Love the barn.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Hazmat,
the barn is our closest neighbor across the road. I'm set back a couple hundred feet as they are right on the road. It really is a nice view. I played in one twice as big as this when I was a kid. I'm a big fan of timber framed structured so I can really appreciate these fine old structures.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Hazmat,
Saw your pics in the photo forum. I see your neighbor has a nice looking barn also.
For my final grade, I used an old bed spring. I bolted some angle iron back to back sandwiching the lower part of the springs. Hooked up some ropes and started driving in random directions. I was amazed as to how well this worked. My area turned out like a putting green. Oh yeah, make sure you water that straw down good. Came home yesterday after work only to find all my straw blown up against the retaining wall in the photo. We had some pretty severe thunderstorms blow thru yesterday afternoon. If there's one thing I really hate is doing a job twice.

 

[hazmat]

Kevin,

The barn isn't as nice as it looks, hopefully I will get back the pics I took on the wife's 35mm camera & scan some in for you guys. Should offer some more detail than the el cheapo digital.