The Volume of a Box Planter calculator computes the volume of a rectangular box shaped planter.
INSTRUCTIONS: Choose your preferred units and enter the following: 
- (l) This is the length of the planter
- (w) This is the width of the planter
- (d) This is the depth of the planter
- (BS) Choose from the list:
- system - for standard volume (e.g. 3.4 cubic feet)
- other - these are all standard container or bag sizes including 1 cubic foot, 1.25 cubic feet, 2.5 cubic feet, 8 quarts, 32 quarts, 64 quarts.
Volume: Using the system setting, the calculator returns the volume of the box planter in cubic feet. However, this can be automatically converted to other volume units (e.g. liter or cubic yards) via the pull-down menu.
General Information
This calculates the volume of a rectangular or box shaped planter. Enter the measurements of the planter: (l) length, (w) width and (d) depth of the interior of the box (see diagram), then this formula will provide the volume of the container. This answers the following questions:
- How much soil will my box planter hold?
- How much water will my box container hold?
- How much potting soil do I need?
If you do not intend to fill the container to the top, this formula will over estimate unless you use a depth (d) that matches your expected top surface inside the container. Unless it's a very large container, and/or you are only using a small portion of the container, the overage should be small.
Standard Units
A quick survey of Home Depot's and Lowe's web sites show that potting soil usually comes in a few standard size bags:
- 1 ft3
- 1.25 ft3
- 2.5 ft3
- 8 quarts
- 32 quarts
- 64 quarts
To get your answer in the number of bags needed, click the UNITS button labelled SYSTEM and select the bag size you wish. vCalc will convert your answer from standard volume units (e.g. cubic feet) to the number of bags of that size.
Other Planter Shapes
The volume of planter is based on its shape. Here are the pages for other shapes:
Or just use the single calculator with all of the shapes available in one place at Planter Calculator. This includes some useful industry data like potting soil pricing from national advertisers.
The Math
This formula is based on the volume of a cuboid in 3-D geometry.