This is probably the most ridiculous question on the web, but it's what the title implies. Earlier today, I screened 12 gallons of peat and got to wondering this. I've always screend through a 1/2 mesh hardware cloth and let the little chunks fall through where they may. I never compress the peat after that for measuring, I just fill 5 gallon buckets rather loosely for measuring purposes. When you guys add your liming agents, do you go by the cu ft of the bail, or by the cu ft once it's decompressed?
I go by the bail when its decompressed, I break the whole bale down handful by handful. 3.8 breaks down to roughly 7 cu ft. Remember, pots are measured in imperial gallons.
I don't really measure anything, just eyeball, but I do "eyeball measure" the peat out of the bale and fluffed up some, not in the bale. I doubt you are adding too much lime poppy. What do you add, a cup or so per cubic foot of soil?
I fluff it out and measure in 5 gal Homer buckets. 1 1/2 buckets=1cf, which equals 1/2 of the amount I mix up at the time (2cf). My mix is 50% peat. I add 2 cups of lime to this, going by the total amount of mix, not just the amount of peat. It's worked well for years. When I had the oolitic limestone, I would just toss in a shovelful. We had a dumptruck load of it in the side yard. Never really measured it. Wet
Thanks guys, that clears it up for me. I was having a little brain fart yesterday. This is the 1st time I've ever bought Lambert's peat, and I got a 2.2 cu ft bale. It's a bit cheaper and looks on par with Premier and the others i've bought in the past. That's when it hit me, and I started to wonder if everyone else goes by the cu ft on the bag for measuring LOL!!