How Many Bags Of Mulch On A Pallet?

Mulch is an important part of landscaping and horticulture. As Spring rolls around, landscapers and homeowners routinely start spreading bags of mulch around their flower beds, trees, bushes, planters and gardens. Mulch does more than just look pretty. It provides fresh nutrients to the soil which then helps feed the plants. Mulch can be purchased in bulk at a landscape supplier or by the bag at any Home Depot or Lowes. Pretty much anywhere that sells flowers and plants will also sell mulch. Bags of mulch are delivered to stores, or your home, on a pallet. The most popular mulch bags size is 2 cubic feet. 65 – 70 x 2 cubic feet bags of wood mulch come on a typical pallet.

You can also buy mulch in larger and smaller bags. Here’s a breakdown showing how many bags of wood mulch are on a typical pallet by bag weight.

65 – 70 x 2 cubic feet bags
50 – 60 x 2.8 cubic feet bags
40 – 50 x 3 cubic feet bags
70 – 80 x 1.5 cubic feet bags

The average pallet is 48″ x 40″. Bags of mulch are stacked on top of one another in vertical rows. Once the bags are stacked, the entire pallet is wrapping in plastic. This helps keep the bags together and prevent damage. If a bag should tear open by accident, the mulch would still be contained by the plastic wrap.

Bags can be stacked differently depending on the manufacturer of the mulch. This is why I list the bags of mulch per pallet as a range and not a fixed number. Pallets can also be altered at stores like Home Depot or Lowes.

How Many Bags Of Mulch On A Pallet At Home Depot?

Home Depot sells most of its mulch in 2 cubic feet bags.

Home Depot places between 65 – 70 2 cubic feet bags of wood mulch on each pallet. However, pallets can be altered by workers or shoppers. If you buy an entire pallet, it’s usually best to special order rather than buying from the floor. If you want to buy a floor pallet, make sure and count how many bags are on it first.

Bags of mulch are measured in cubic feet and not weight. If you’re used to working with concrete or cement bags, buying mulch is a little different. Bags can be different weights depending on how much moisture the mulch is carrying, but the coverage should always be about the same.

There are no set industry standards. Mulch manufacturers sell bags in a variety of sizes which are listed in different cubic feet. Most bags at Home Depot are 2 cubic feet. It’s the most common bag size you’ll see at most stores and landscape supply houses. However, they do sell some other sizes.

A standard-sized pallet (48 by 40 inches) also holds between 50 – 60 bags of 2.8 cubic feet, 40 – 50 bags of 3 cubic feet or 70 – 80 bags of 1.5 cubic feet.

Wood pallets have a weight limit of around 4,600 pounds. When carrying wood mulch this isn’t a problem, but it is with rubber mulch which weighs about 90 pounds per bag. So there are only around 50 x 2 cubic feet bags of rubber mulch on a pallet.

Weight is a factor that can limit how many bags of mulch you can place on a pallet, but a bigger factor is height. Generally, most manufacturers won’t load a pallet higher than around 60 inches for safety reasons.

How Many Bags Of Mulch On A Pallet At Lowes?

Lowes sells most of its mulch in 2 cubic feet bags just like Home Depot.

Lowes places between 65 – 70 2 cubic feet bags of wood mulch on each pallet. However, pallets can be altered by workers or shoppers. If you buy an entire pallet, it’s usually best to special order rather than buying from the floor. If you want to buy a floor pallet, make sure and count how many bags are on it first.

There are no set industry standards. Mulch manufacturers sell bags in a variety of sizes which are listed in different cubic feet. Most bags at Lowes are 2 cubic feet. It’s the most common bag size you’ll see at most stores and landscape supply houses. However, they do sell some other sizes.

A standard-sized pallet (48 by 40 inches) also holds between 50 – 60 bags of 2.8 cubic feet, 40 – 50 bags of 3 cubic feet or 70 – 80 bags of 1.5 cubic feet.

What Does A Pallet Of Mulch Weigh?

The type of pallet, type of mulch, and bag size all help determine how much a pallet of mulch weighs. Most mulch is delivered on a wood pallet, called a block pallet, which weighs around 45 pounds. Plastic wrap weighs practically nothing so other than the 45 pound pallet, all you’ve got are the mulch bags.

Figuring out how much a pallet of mulch weighs is actually very easy. Simply multiply the weight of each bag times how many bags are on the pallet. However, it gets a little harder because mulch bags absorb a lot of water which means they have a dry and wet weight.

In the table, I’ve listed the most common mulch types and their dry weights.

Mulch	Dry Weight
Bark Mulch	20 lbs
Straw Mulch	30 lbs
Rubber Mulch	90 lbs

Let’s look at the most common pallet sizes and types of mulch.

The total weight of a pallet of bark mulch holding 2 cubic yard bags weighs about 1,350 lbs. to 1,450 lbs including the pallet.
A pallet of straw mulch holding 2 cubic yard bags weighs about 2,000 lbs. to 2,150 lbs including the pallet.
A pallet of rubber mulch holding 2 cubic yard bags weighs about 4,600 lbs including the pallet. This is the maximum weight a wood pallet can safely hold.

A standard wood pallet can support around 4,600 pounds. This is more than enough to support a full pallet of wood mulch. However, when carrying rubber mulch, the bags per pallet must be reduced because of the weight. So there are only around 50 x 2 cubic feet bags of rubber mulch on a typical pallet.

Dry Weight Vs Wet Weight

It’s very important to understand the difference between dry weight and wet weight.

The weights of a typical bag of mulch and the weight of a full pallet I’ve listed are averages when dry. However, a single bag of mulch can easily absorb a full gallon of water. Water weighs around 8 pounds per gallon. So a full soaked pallet can weigh an additional 560 pounds. That’s a lot of extra weight and definitely something you need to consider when transporting the mulch yourself.

Mulch generally dries out fairly quickly when in direct sunlight. But the center of a mulch pile or the bags towards the bottom or middle of a pallet, dry out very slowly. And in some cases they don’t dry out at all.

Keep this in mind when transporting or calculating mulch weight. There will usually be some amount of moisture stored inside the bags or mulch pile.

How Many Bags Of Cedar Mulch Are On A Pallet?

Cedar mulch is another type of wood mulch made from Cedar wood. It’s typically sold in 2 cubic feet bags which means there’s about 65 to 70 bags on a typical wood pallet.

The average weight of a 2 cubic feet bag of cedar mulch is about 20 pounds dry. So 20 pounds time 65 – 70 equals 1,350 to 1,450 pounds total. This includes 50pounds for the pallet.

A bag of wet cedar mulch can easily weigh an extra 8 pounds which is equal to a full gallon of water. So it’s very important to understand the weight difference if you’re picking up and transporting the mulch yourself.

How Many Bags Of Vigoro Mulch On A Pallet?

Vigoro brand mulch is sold at The Home Depot. It’s packaged in 2 cubic feet bags with 65-7o bags on a pallet.

A full pallet of Vigoro mulch will usually be delivered wrapped in plastic to protect and hold the bags securely on the pallet.

Overview

A wood pallet has some limitations regarding how many bags you can stack on it. Generally, a manufacturer won’t pile bags of mulch higher than 48 inches on a pallet. This is for safety reasons.

A pallet has a weight limit of around 4,600 pounds. This usually doesn’t matter because wood mulch is fairly light. However, when carrying rubber mulch it’s a big issue. Rubber mulch is around 90 pound per bag dry. So that means a pallet can only carry around 50 bags.

There’s normally around 65 to 70 bags of wood mulch on a full pallet. This is within the general 48 inch height limit and light enough to stay under 4,600 pounds.