Greenhouse Potting Soil Calculator
Calculate total soil and substrate volume needed in cubic feet, cubic yards, and 50L bags across plug flats, pots, trade gallon containers, and hanging baskets.
Media Volume Estimation: The Greenhouse Potting Soil Calculator
Ordering bulk potting mix, peat moss, perlite, or coco coir requires accurate volume estimates. Ordering too little substrate halts planting operations, while ordering excess bulk soil wastes storage space and leads to compaction. The greenhouse potting soil calculator (searched as greenhouse substrate volume calculator, greenhouse soil bag calculator, or potting mix volume calculator) converts container counts directly into dry quarts, cubic feet, cubic yards, and 50-Liter retail bags.
Dry Quarts vs. Liquid Gallon Container Capacities
A common point of confusion in commercial horticulture is that standard "#1 Trade Gallon" pots do not hold a full liquid gallon (231 cu in). Instead, a #1 trade gallon pot holds approximately 0.75 liquid gallons or 3.0 dry quarts of potting mix. Volume conversions are structured as follows:
- Standard 1020 Plug Flat: ~3.5 Dry Quarts ($0.136$ cu ft).
- 4-Inch Round Nursery Pots: ~0.5 Dry Quarts ($0.019$ cu ft).
- #1 Trade Gallon Pots: ~3.0 Dry Quarts ($0.117$ cu ft).
- #2 Trade Gallon Pots: ~6.0 Dry Quarts ($0.233$ cu ft).
- #5 Trade Gallon Containers: ~15.0 Dry Quarts ($0.583$ cu ft).
- 10-Inch Hanging Baskets: ~6.5 Dry Quarts ($0.253$ cu ft).
Universal Volume Conversion Multipliers
Total Cubic Feet = Total Dry Quarts / 25.714
Total Cubic Yards = Total Cubic Feet / 27
50-Liter / 1.76 Cu Ft Bags Needed = Total Cubic Feet / 1.76