This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: straw in garden


At 08:13 PM 3/12/98 -0500, you wrote:
>-- [ From: nonayobusiness * EMC.Ver #2.3 ] --
>
>I think that it would be better if you threw HAY, and best of all, salt
hay
>in your garden, because I think the straw is full of seeds.  The hay
>doesn't have as many ....

	Seems to me, whether straw or hay used as mulch introduces seeds into the
garden depends on where and how it’s collected.  Any straw from wheat, rye
or oats is virtually free from seeds.  The grain seed can stay on the stalk
if harvested too early or if it’s too damp but this is rarely happens
because of dockage penalties to the grower for moisture content in the
grain.  Any seeds that get through in the straw are seeds from the grain
and are pretty easy to control.  Grain fields are pretty free of any weeds.
	Hay from legumes like alfalfa and red clover may have lots of weed seeds
in the first cutting in climates like the Midwest.  Subsequent cuttings are
pretty free from weed seeds and also from hayseed if the hay is collected
before the heads go to seed.  In the southwest (like Phoenix), the first
cuttings are somewhat weedy and become progressively worse as the warm
season grasses proliferate.  We sometimes get over a dozen cuttings from
alfalfa per season with the late season cuttings infested with Bermuda
grass.  Hay from Timothy or Brome grass, if available, is trucked in from
out-of-state and is is too expensive here to use as mulch.  Hay from the
rhizomatous grasses like Johnson grass and giant Bermuda (aka devil weed)
are difficult eradicate in a garden and should be avoided.
	Nitrogen content of straw is negligible.  Some people advise against using
it as mulch because nitrogen needed to break down the straw robs the
nutrient from the vegetables.  In our area of short growing seasons, low
ambient humidity, little rainfall during the growing season, and high soil
pH, there is very little decomposition.  Some people also recommend working
the straw into the soil after harvest.  This may be okay in some areas but
not here (Phoenix) because straw + clay + water = adobe.

Just one perspective from a former farm boy.
Olin Miller <millero@worldnet.att.net>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index