How much does one bale cover?

One round bale covers about 80 square feet once it is spread. That is a bed about 4 ft by 20 ft. These are round bales, not the small square ones stacked outside a shop.

How do you measure a bed?

Pace it. One step is about three feet, so pace the length and the width and multiply each by three to get feet. Multiply those two numbers for the square feet. Do that for every bed, add them together, and divide by 80.

How deep should pine straw be?

Most people rake pine straw out four or five inches deep, and it settles down to about two to four. Thinner and weeds find the light; much thicker and it mats together instead of letting the rain down to the roots.

How often does it need doing?

Most people do their beds once or twice a year. Fresh straw is copper and it goes gray as it breaks down into the bed, so the bed gets thin. When it looks flat and gray, it is time.

What if the yard is small?

You pay the smallest order anyway: $150 of straw, 12 bales spread or 20 delivered only.

A brick house with one long bed of fresh pine straw running the whole way along the front

How much you need

How much pine straw your beds take.

One round bale covers about 80 square feet. Add your beds together, divide by 80, round up. That is your bale count. You agree it with Branden before any work starts.

What that comes to in bales

A yard with 500 square feet of bed takes 7 bales. One bed on its own, 4 ft by 20 ft, is a single bale.

Always round up. There is no such thing as most of a bale.

You do not have to be exact and you do not have to own a tape measure. Say roughly how much bed you have when you call, and you work the count out together from that.

Call (912) 256-6051

A round bale of pine straw held in one hand, which is about how big one is

Measure it with your feet

Nobody has a tape measure in their pocket. Your own steps are close enough for this.

1
Walk the length

Start at one end of the bed and walk to the other, counting your steps. One step is about three feet, so multiply your steps by three.
2
Walk the width

Now step across the bed the same way. A bed along the front of a house is usually one step or two.
3
Multiply, then add

Length times width is the square feet of that bed. Do each bed the same way and add them together.

Beds that curve or wander are fine. Pace the longest part and the widest part, and guess high if you are between two numbers.

Common beds, and what each one takes

These are single beds, not whole yards. Add yours together, then check the total against the smallest order.

Common bed sizes and the number of bales each one takes
What you have	Roughly	Bales
One bed along the front of the house	4 ft by 20 ft	1
A ring around one tree	6 ft across	1
The whole front of an average house	3 ft by 60 ft	3
Front beds and both sides	about 500 sq ft	7

$12.50 a bale, delivered and spread. Or $7.50 a bale delivered only.

A porch front with fresh pine straw spread around the shrubs and out to the edge of the lawn

What will it cost?

Start at the smallest order and pick whichever is closest to your yard, then choose whether you want it spread.

Who spreads it

Spread for you $12.50 a bale Delivered only $7.50 a bale

The smallest order About 960 sq ft, 12 bales Spread $150 Delivered only starts at 20 bales, $150, which is more straw than this yard needs A medium yard About 1,920 sq ft, 24 bales Spread $300 Delivered only $180 A large yard About 2,880 sq ft, 36 bales Spread $450 Delivered only $270 A big property About 4,800 sq ft, 60 bales Spread $750 Delivered only $450

$150

12 bales at $12.50, delivered and spread. That is the straw; past a 30 minute drive of Glennville a flat $150 for the trip goes on top, charged once.

The truck carries extra bales, so if your beds need more on the day you can usually have them on the same trip, at the same price a bale as the rest of your order. Treat this as an estimate, not a quoted price: you settle the job with Branden before any work starts.

How deep it should go

Most people rake pine straw out four or five inches deep, because it settles down to about two to four.

Thinner than that and weeds find the light through it. Much thicker and it mats together instead of letting the rain down to the roots.

A bed that still has old straw in it takes less than a bare one. You are topping up the depth and the color, not building the bed up from dirt. Say so when you call.

Beds along a brick building with old straw gone thin and gray — The same beds before: thin and gray

The same beds with fresh copper straw laid deep and raked to a clean edge — And after, with the depth back in

If the number comes out wrong

Too few

You get a thin bed, or one bed left bare. The truck usually carries extra bales, so say so on the day and you can usually have more on the same trip, at the same price a bale as the rest of your order.

Too many

You agree the count before any work starts, so say on the day if it looks like more than your beds need.

So guess high

The count is settled with you before anything happens, so if you are between two numbers when you call, say both and work it out with Branden.

Round bales set out along a bed line, ready to be opened and spread

The smallest job

The smallest order is $150 of straw either way: 12 bales delivered and spread, or 20 bales delivered only. Spread, that is about 960 square feet of bed. Delivered only it is about 1,600 square feet, because you spread those yourself. If your beds need less than that, you pay it anyway.

So if your beds come to less than that, it is worth finding another bed to put the rest of the straw in.

Not sure where your yard lands? Ask Branden, who prices the job from your bed sizes and your town.

A single round bale of pine straw sitting on a wooden trailer bed

What the drive costs

It is the drive time from Glennville that decides it, not the miles. The picker above prices the trip for you, and the towns page says which towns carry one.

The price of a bale is the same in every town on the list. Only the trip charge changes.

About 85 minutes out is as far as the truck goes.

Every town on the list, with its drive time

The back of a box truck standing open, packed to the roof with round bales of pine straw

Things people ask

How much does one bale cover?: One round bale covers about 80 square feet once it is spread. That is a bed about 4 ft by 20 ft. These are round bales, not the small square ones stacked outside a shop.
How do you measure a bed?: Pace it. One step is about three feet, so pace the length and the width and multiply each by three to get feet. Multiply those two numbers for the square feet. Do that for every bed, add them together, and divide by 80.
How deep should pine straw be?: Most people rake pine straw out four or five inches deep, and it settles down to about two to four. Thinner and weeds find the light; much thicker and it mats together instead of letting the rain down to the roots.
How often does it need doing?: Most people do their beds once or twice a year. Fresh straw is copper and it goes gray as it breaks down into the bed, so the bed gets thin. When it looks flat and gray, it is time.
What if the order comes up short?: Say so on the day. The truck usually carries extra bales, so you can usually have more on the same trip, at the same price a bale as the rest of your order. Give the bigger number when you call anyway. You agree the count before any work starts.
What if the yard is small?: You pay the smallest order anyway: $150 of straw, 12 bales spread or 20 delivered only.

An entrance walk with fresh straw in the beds on both sides

Say roughly how much bed you have, and get the number.