Price to install pine straw?

[Cleve]

I did ask this same question in the middle of an earlier thread but no one ever answered.
I just don't like to install pinestraw as a mulch but it is just about required in this area. Almost everyone wants it all around their house and plants.
What do you charge to put it in? This includes having to pick it up and delivery to the customer.
Assuming the cost per bale around $3.00 +/-. Have paid as low as $2.65 and as high as $3.45. The most I want to pick up at any time would be around 100 bales. Just too hard to keep up with.
I have tried subs to do this on a few occasions but ended up getting cheated every time.
Thanks for any answers.
Cleve....

[Mike Felices]

Cleve, I get short needle for $2.60/bale and long needle for $3.00/bale. I charge $3.25/bale for short needle to be delivered, and $3.50/bale for long needle to be delivered. Or $5.00/bale delivered and spread.

[Dennis]

Cleve
I usually By @ 2.25/bale, deliver 2.90/bale,Install 4.00/bale

[mountain man]

We are in North Carolina instead of Georgia, but none of the companies I know of will spread for less than $7.00 per bale. Almost all of my jobs this January were at either $7.50 or $8.00 per bale. Also, don't forget to factor in a cleanup fee if there are leaves or debris that needs to be picked up.

[Starling Lawn]

We carge 8.00 a pale,delivered and spread.
Dave

[HOMER]

How you get that stuff in a pale????????????? :D

I'm glad ya'll brought this up, I have some to put out real soon and I'm sure I would have given it away if I hadn't read this.

Knowledge is POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UGH UGH

[Starling Lawn]

Homer,
Last landscape job,100 bales delivered.You do the math.
Dave

[awm]

5 DOLLARS PER PUT OUT .You would get all
you wanted around here.

[Mike Felices]

What are you guys paying per bale ing North Carolina? Maybe I should just start charging $7.00/bale no matter what cost is. That means more money for me, and that's fine with me. I can use all the money I can get.

[lakegastonla]

Man, we are getting fleeced around here. We have to pay 4 bucks a bale for the long needle straw. Spread for 7.50 per delivered.

[Orkin Yards]

i'm in MS and they sale bale's and bags, i don't know the price on blaes but i know a bag runs $10 and they say it has more than the bales does...does anyone know about bags? should i be using bales instead?

[moonarrow]

boy you guys in Ga. sure get it cheap, Ipay $4to $4.50 a bale here in La. and I do buy from the distributor.I aslo charge $2 to $3 dollar per bale to put it out

[Ssouth]

How many bales in one cubic yard? or how many bales would it take to fill the same area as one cubic yard of shredded pine mulch at 3" deep. I'm asking because I've never installed it and do not know how to estimate how much one bale will cover.
thanks in advance.

[kutnkru]

At least thats what Ive heard.

Kris

[KirbysLawn]

Regular customers: $7.50 a bale

Others: $8.00 a bale

[lee b]

Pine straw is cheap in south Georgia, last year I bought some for $2.00 a bale, of course most of it comes from around here. Right now straw dealers have it baled-up and stacked everywhere. They're waiting on spring to come and you guys to go back to work. The folks around here would be tickled to get the prices for their straw that I've seen on here. $2.00 a bale delivered to me in 100 bale lots. The middle-man is making the big money.

[kutnkru]

Ray

for what its worth I have some friends in the Greensboro area and they are charging $9 a bale without qualms. Just thought i'd pass that along to ya incase you were considering adjusting prices for this season. they are a lil farther northwest though, but that shouldnt change too much.

Kris

[1MajorTom]

Question

Not being familar with the pine straw as we don't use that up here, the bales seem relatively cheap. Is there a lot of profit in laying that down for you guys?

[BigEd]

I have never heard of that around here??

[kutnkru]

Think of it as a sort of hay bale. Only difference is that when you open it there are no "wafers" to break down and it instantly spreads. I would say that you could probably put one out in ohhhhh --- 90 seconds. My friends down south charge $9 per bale and are buying them for just over $3. Sounds like a potential for a money maker to me.

I do like the reddish brown hue when the needles are fresh, but being a yankee, once they brown out unlike bark mulches I just want to rake them up because they make the beds look unkempt.

Just my .02
Kris

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:

From what I know starting in mid Georgia the further South you go the cheaper it gets. When I bought it the average price was $2.25 a bale if bought by the hundred. We charged double delivered & spread. $4.50 to $5.00 a bale. At least double your price when spreading if possible.

In Columbus Georgia to Atlanta about 100 miles, there is much as $1.00 min. a bale higher. In Atlanta the Big Boys would park a Semi Trailer on a street corner in Atlanta & empty it in less than a day. I think a semi holds 540 bales + or - a few.

I know the Guy that came up with the extension on the back of semi trailers & it would hold I think another 100 or so bales. BTW, his father was multi millionair from pinestraw. He had at the time I knew him 10 Semi trucks & about 60 trailers. More later.

Far as profit goes in most cases when we put down the straw there was nothing much else to do as far as cutting or gathering leaves, great filler jobs & time to pick up new customers. If you put it out in the heat of summer the freshnes didn't last long. We always put folks off till our off season.

Best time to put it down was early spring or fall. Do everything you can to keep it fluffy. When finished putting it down, hose it down with a little water, makes it look a lot better washing off all that darn dust. When buying straw be careful, those guys can do all kinds of tricks to make it look good on the outside & it be shinola on the inside?

If buying a quanity ask to let you bust open a random bale, not the one on the outside, LOL dig down a few & find one. If you know the Ancient Secret of Rednecks, basically called Bubbas Wayz you can grab that bale & jerk it & by the time it's 6" off the ground it's half spread, that's right 1 handed!

Please check it for Excessive, sticks, pinecones & most of all Stickers. You can't tell by looking & don't do as I did a few times. I would just ram my fist into the center of the bale & feel around, then pull out a handful. LOL, it looked very Profescional Yeh with a c, until I discovered Stickers. Tore up my hands up real bad. You buy bales with stickers, you will be buying Leather gloves for all. Just one of the many Employees benefits. LOL, try to find those gloves 2 weeks later?

Yep we got us a rattle snake in a bale one time, allways excitement in this business. It will wake you out of the most boring day. LOL

Big Money in being the Pinestraw Man. Mostly gathered at Southern plantations. They get it for Free & some of those theiving Plantations would charge you a .25 a bale to get off their Plantation. Why so cheap, well it's a big fire hazzard & if you have a smart Plantation Manager, he pockets the money & all that other stuff you have to buy him to keep him happy. Lots of Plantations go Bankrupt, but never a Plantation Manager?

You need a small bailing machine that will fit between the rows. Yep you get it where they are raising trees for lumber & ploes (they normally mature in 20 years) big money there too. The younger trees puts out the best straw long sorta orange needles. If they gather on regular basses the straw will be clean.

Get a good crew & good bailer. You can crank out 1,000 to 1,500 bales a day. But Stickers, Rattlesnakes & break downs slow you down. Everybody I ever met made big bucks gathering pinestraw.

Here in South Georgia the only thing more dangerous than Rattle snakes in pinestraw was Water Mossicans falling out of trees while gathering berries for MayHaw Jelly. LOL, that's another mile long post. Mayhaw jelly is the best jelly in the world, very expensive & mostly found at road side stands?

[kutnkru]

Thanks for the education GrassMaster. After working with some friends in Greensboro NC this past summer I know what you are talking about. Those needles seemed to be a breeding ground for copperheads and other varieties.

Thanks for the info.
Kris

[Strawbridge Lawn]

And the gas is even cheap in Georgia too!!