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Post by mollymckee on Apr 1, 2015 4:51:57 GMT
Has anyone tried straw bale gardening, where you prepare the bales ahead of time, then raise your plants in the bale?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2015 4:01:28 GMT
My neighbor & I did this last season on top of his garage roof and had some success. This year we're expanding and using my garden area as well. If I was on my computer right now I could post pictures.
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Post by snoozy on Apr 14, 2015 20:38:50 GMT
When ever I have tried innovative methods for growing things -- that is, in other than soil in a raised bed or regular bed, it has been disappointing at best. The tire stack of potatoes. The 4 strawbales with potatoes between 'em. Of course, maybe it is potatoes which are the problem. Yet I can grow them fine from volunteers.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 14, 2015 22:16:01 GMT
Problem with most innovative methods is that the idea is made to appear generic whereas the actuality is quite complex. Anything can be grown in a straw bale as long as 100% of its needs are supplied. If it takes X amount of a certain compatible fertilizer, X amount must be supplied. Then an exact amount of moisture must be maintained to assure that the plant's roots can use that fertilizer and it not be leached out. All that is after sufficient nitrogen has been added in advance so that the decaying straw doesn't prevent the plant from being able to get it. Those are the main reasons why straw bale gardening fails.
Martin
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2015 22:42:14 GMT
Here's some photos of last year's garden (if I figured out how to post them correctly). The squash, pumpkins, beans & tomatoes did well. The potatoes didn't produce much and the carrots were small because they didn't get thinned out.
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Post by bearsfan on Apr 15, 2015 13:44:25 GMT
Jkhs did you have to fert any of your plants? I'm going to try it this year to see if it works or not, I agree with Martin, I think it's more complex than throwing bales out in the yard and getting huge yields of food. I got fresh straw bales last fall and let ten of them sit out over winter, they were sprouting the straw seed. Didn't ask if it was wheat or barley or what. Well most of the grass sprouting on the bales looks pretty clohrotic. With that being said I think I'll have a good experiment going this summer.
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Post by claytonpiano on Apr 15, 2015 23:56:51 GMT
Interesting discussion at the Mother Earth News Fair this past weekend. The speaker said never to use straw bales unless you know what was sprayed on the straw. The speaker said there is some herbicide that will live for 300+ days before anything will grow. That has NEVER been my experience. I have no idea whether his statement was accurate or not, but would think that you could be prudent as to where your straw came from in case he was correct.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 4:36:00 GMT
My neighbor took care of a lot of the watering and fertilizing, but I know that we had to prep the bales for 10 days before planting by applying high nitrogen lawn fertilizer every other day (days 1,3,5,& 7-9) then on day 10 a 10-10-10 fertilizer was applied. We planted on day 11 and then about every 2 to 3 weeks used a liquid fertilizer. The watering was done by soaker hose on a timer. We had this garden on my neighbor's garage roof since he really doesn't have a decent place in his yard for a garden. I have some pictures of the garden from before the plants were big that show the set up better but I can't get them to post right now.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 16, 2015 15:16:15 GMT
My neighbor took care of a lot of the watering and fertilizing, but I know that we had to prep the bales for 10 days before planting by applying high nitrogen lawn fertilizer every other day (days 1,3,5,& 7-9) then on day 10 a 10-10-10 fertilizer was applied. We planted on day 11 and then about every 2 to 3 weeks used a liquid fertilizer. The watering was done by soaker hose on a timer. We had this garden on my neighbor's garage roof since he really doesn't have a decent place in his yard for a garden. I have some pictures of the garden from before the plants were big that show the set up better but I can't get them to post right now. There is an excellent example of what I wrote about it being more complex than just throwing seeds at a straw bale. Everything had to be done in a certain order and maintained throughout. Using a timer for watering assured that there wasn't going to be a day when the straw dried and roots died. Those are the reasons why I never advise anyone to try gardening that way. There are no shortcuts and it only takes one slip to spoil the whole thing. Martin |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 16:12:46 GMT
Martin, I agree there are no shortcuts in gardening but in certain applications straw bale gardening is a better option than traditional gardening. My garden last year is a good example-we were able to produce a large amount of food in an area that is essentially just wasted space (a flat garage roof). My neighbor appreciated being able to have a garden (there wasn't anywhere else in his tiny yard to have a garden) and my bad back appreciated not having to weed. I also found that warm weather crops (tomatoes, peppers, squash) did better & produced earlier in the warm straw bales than they did in my traditional garden.
As for difficulty, it really wasn't any more difficult to grow things in the straw bales than it is in dirt-just a little different. The straw bales actually used less water than my traditional garden once they were fully saturated.
I will say that I didn't think root crops (carrots, beets, & potatoes) produced as well as they should have but it could have been the location or weather or some other factor. It'll take another trial to find out.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 18, 2015 2:21:58 GMT
One of our PO window clerks informed me today that she was going to try growing in straw bales this year. Before I could begin to give any helpful hints, she said that she had been preparing the bales with the nitrogen part for a week. I didn't ask what she planned to grow but have no doubts that she will succeed. She had never grown sweet potatoes until last year and had excellent results.
Martin
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2015 13:31:58 GMT
My sister uses straw bales for her tomatoes with great success. I believe she started because she had several types of blight/wilts in her soil which frustrated her attempts at healthy tomatoes. The bales fixed her problem.
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