9 yards of hardwood mulch : How much does that weigh?

[Clarence Martin]

Well, this was a surprise!!

Woke up this morning , and found a truckload of what looks like Apple tree mulch (There was whole Apples in with the mulch), dumped off in my Driveway right next to the house !!! If i remember right, the truckloads are either 6 or 9 yards .


What does something like that weigh ? Can either shovel it myself, or get the Neighbor to dump it where I want, with the front loader on his tractor.

[Wayne Lovell]

If you have a front loader available for free I would vote for that, its a lot to move with a shovel and wheelbarrow. It can be done but way more time and work.

[Clarence Martin]

http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx246/canvasback1887/DSCN1689_zpsq0zpoxel.jpg (http://s760.photobucket.com/user/canvasback1887/media/DSCN1689_zpsq0zpoxel.jpg.html)

Pile is bigger than it looks in the picture.

[Val Kosmider]

That's a LOT of stuff. Go with the front end loader.

BTW, that is not mulch, but wood that is chipped from a tree which they took down. All that green stuff needs to rot, and the big pieces will be left. Use it in an out of the way place where you don't want bugs, smell, nitrogen depravation or rotten mess. Good to spread in a wood lot or thicket where you want fewer weeds or a softer under-foot material. Prolly don't want to put it near your house/foundation.

[Steve Peterson]

I shoveled 5 yards of pea gravel into a wheelbarrow and dumped it about 100 feet away in about 5 hours of hard labor. I did 5 yards of dry garden mix near the same spot in about 45 minutes.

Wet mulch is going to weigh a bit more than garden mix, but probably still not too bad. But it is no effort to have the neighbor move it with his tractor. Any of my neighbors that have tractors would enjoy doing it, so it's not even like you would owe them a big favor. Maybe just a beer or two.

Steve

[Larry Frank]

The best thing to shovel it with is a thin tine pitch fork. Much easier than a shovel.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

If I had to guess, I'd say that was about 6 yards, unless the pile is longer (towards the back) than it looks.

and what Larry said...get you a manure fork to move it: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Truper-Tool-Pro-Manure-5-Tine-Fork-30323/202104475?MERCH=REC-_-nosearch2_rr-_-NA-_-202104475-_-N

[ryan paulsen]

X2 to the manure fork, i would say it's a must... and a take and snow shovel and rake when the pile is low. I get 15 yards a year and could get it all moved and spread in a long day. An extra large plastic wheelbarrow or yard cart will help a ton. Weight it's not a problem, volume of the wheelbarrow is more of a problem. Not an unbearable job buy hand.

[Greg R Bradley]

about 9000 pounds, which is one third what that volume of gravel weighs. I do think that pile is less than 9 yards. The big trucks that have the chipper behind them hold 10 yards if they are totally full.

FWIW, I had 20 yards of tree chippings dumped in my driveway and shoveled it into big trashcans, which I dollied down the side of my house, around my pool, then carried up almost a flight of stairs to my back backyard citrus grove to use as mulch. It took me two months, doing about 10-20 big trashcans worth each day. It settled down to about half that volume and I will need that much more by the time I'm finished with my grove. Any volunteers?

A tractor/loader sounds like a great idea!

[Matt Day]

Listen to Val's points above!