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Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

I am planning on adding quite a bit of horse manure to my patch during the off season. My pick-up is full size with a 6 foot bed. With a full rounded load what is the approximate square feet of manure per load?

Thanks,
Mark

9/12/2006 5:18:07 PM

Follansbee, Wv

You don't want the square foot measurement. You are looking for cubic feet. One cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Assuming a bed depth of 20" a level load would be 40 cubic feet or 1.48 cubic yards. That means the load would have to be level with the top of the bed for the entire length of the bed. To help you determine how much you need, I offer this:

Assuming a 1000 sq foot area for ease of calculations.

A 3 inch layer over the patch would require 1000/4=250 cubic feet or 9.25 cubic yards or about 6.25 level truck loads.

A 4 inch layer would require 1000/3=333 cubic feet = 12.3 cubic yards = 8.3 level truck loads.

Calculating for other patch sizes and depths is easy:

Let:
A = 12/manure depth in inches
B = Square feet of patch
C = Cubic feet of manure required
D = Cubic Yards required
E = Level truck loads required for a 6' bed

So B/A = C

then

C/27 = D

then

D/1.48 = E

9/12/2006 5:45:42 PM

ordinary,VA

Mark just add a crap load of manure.

9/12/2006 8:19:30 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Nice Monty! Lol ED!..I'd rather have a cubic yard of worms!

LOL

9/12/2006 8:30:15 PM

Follansbee, Wv

One word of caution though: I had 20 yards of uncomposted horse manure delivered to my house several months ago. The bedding content, primarily sawdust, was much heavier than I wanted. With the help of a couple of lawn maintenance companies I was able to obtain a constant supply of grass clippings. Even mixing at a 3:1 ratio and greater the sawdust still prevails. I have had to re-mix with even more grass repeatedly to get the bedding broken down. Take this into consideration before dumping large amounts into your patch, it could drive your nitrogen levels way down.

9/13/2006 7:55:18 AM

Mulino, Oregon

Here's a thought gang. One 'unit' or 7.5 cubic yards will cover 1200 sq. feet to 2" deep.

9/13/2006 9:26:23 AM

ordinary,VA

love my worms.
Monty has a very good read on BP.com about worms and worm bins.
let me go on the record and say that
Mark will be one of the top growers in Virginia next year.
The man has pumpkin juice running in his blood.
See you at the weigh-off Mark..

9/13/2006 3:55:57 PM

New Castle, Pa.

Monty, nice job at applying math to a practical application.
Have you ever consider getting into education? I teach in a vo-tech and this post is going in my files for future reference.
Tim

9/13/2006 9:05:22 PM