Re: Fave Organic Fert reply

**"* <d*@comcast.net>**

Well, darn. Guess I'd better do something to test the bale I got to mulch my 
vegetable garden this year. With manure, I'd always check around the edges 
of the pile. If chickweed was growing there in late winter, early spring, I 
figured it was safe. With hay, I'd wet the bale and watch to see what popped 
up. If they were broadleaf weeds, I figured it was safe. With wheat being a 
grass, and normally only sprouting the flush of wheat that you mentioned, 
there's no real way to tell.

I wonder if chopping up some of the wheat and soaking it, then using the 
water on test pots of beans or lettuce would do the trick. What do you 
think?

I remember seeing the photos of the lush growth at the PNW show. They made 
me smile.

It would be a shame if there was no way to make this work now. I used to get 
free "spoiled" hay - hay that had been left out too long or baled too wet. I 
would use the bales the first year as walls for my cold frame. When when 
they had started to break down a bit, I'd wet them down a bit more,  add 
some chicken litter (at one time I had 45 hens), and after the heat dropped, 
I'd plant just for fun and to surprise visitors.   When the bales had done 
their job the first year, I'd use whatever was left over as mulch, or if 
they were too far gone, use them for compost.

Can you use alfalfa hay as an alternative? I really never had much trouble 
with weeds, either with alfalfa or fescue, in bale gardening. After that 
first flush, they were gone, because the bale heated up somewhat and killed 
the rest of the seeds. Shipping costs drove alfalfa hay pretty much out of 
our market a few years ago. The only remaining feed and seed store close to 
us does not carry it now. Since it's a legume, they don't use clopyralid.

Do you know of a fish fertilizer that wouldn't be attractive to raccoons? 
I've never had any that wasn't pretty smelly, even if it said "odorless".

d

-----Original Message----- 
From: Rose Marie McGee
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 10:41 AM
To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
Subject: Re: [GWL] Fave Organic Fert reply

The wheat fields in the the Pacific Northwest are being sprayed with 
clopyralid as it controls the broad-leaved weeds and as we've discussed 
passes through animals fed the straw or hay without leaving any residue. If 
a person plants in these bales their crop is severely damaged by clopyralid 
which does not breakdown for a couple of years or more. I've never used hay 
because it is weedy. Straw bales have a quick flush of wheat growth and then 
it dies back. If planting legumes in the bales all I've needed for 
fertilizer is legume inoculant and a lovely crop is produced. Salad greens 
I've used fish fertilizer. Strawberries the same. Tomatoes and cucumbers 
perform fairly well but if I were planting as extensively as I once did I'd 
use fish bonemeal. Peppers have been under fertilized and no answer for you. 
I had quit giving talks on straw bale gardening but in regular gardening 
talks would tell people to check out for clopyralid. When we GWA members 
grew and installed a demonstra
tion garden at the PNW Flower and Garden Show, for which we received a gold 
medal and the People's Favorite award, no small thanks to Jeff Lowenfels, 
straw bales planted with salad greens knocked the socks off people because 
it was a new concept with an old history and we came up with the idea 
because it was cheap kick board. I've gone on a bit, sorry but I'm very 
concerned about the use of Stinger and other chemicals making such a direct 
hit on unsuspecting gardeners.
Rose Marie Nichols McGee
www.NicholsGardenNursery.com

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