Strawbale Gardening: General Discussions - 2012 - Chapter 37

heh heh heh. Jeanette better clean her glasses. Sally was taking the picture.

My beard isn't as long as his . LOL

Sally; Back in Georgia and all settled in now???

LOL Sally, is that your husband? Pretty cool looking couple of guys on that camping trip.

Bet you all had a good time.

Yes , jnette and enjoyed every minute with Russ and Barb . Just wish the river had been lower so we could have dredged . Found a little gold and sent it home with them . It wasn't enough to divide and Russ worked hard for every speck of it .

another pic. Told you I was a heathen .

AWESOME PICS SALLY!! I know you all had a wonderful time together :)

Welcome to the new strawbalers. This is great place to be and everyone on here will help you succeed. They sure helped us and we are going into our third year. WE LOVE IT :)

Connie

Now back to the real world and work huh! Russ, how is Barb doing? Jeanette

well Jeanette I'd go and do it again. But like Sally said, wish the river had been more than a little lower. We would probably have a lot more fun/gold. Barb and I are both a year older and for some reason my like to seems to be bigger than my ambition. And I think I can safely say the same for Barb. Her back and hips seem to hurt more this year.
And yes it's back to the real world.
In addition to the garden, I've added some chickens to the mix, in hopes of selling some eggs this winter and putting that aside along with the nickle can money I pick up, while walking the road shoulders. got to save up you know, for the next big trip.
Hey you haven't sent me a name for one of the chickens. Now I think I have the one that you could name, an I wouldn't forget which one it was. I ordered 25 Red Sexlinks but one of those appears to be a Partridge Plymouth Rock, so she may wonder why her feathers are different. ha ha. Can't call her what I do the broilers, which will soon all be in the freezer. " POOPERS" Yeah you get the idea. I think that is all they do. However next Monday they will be 2 months old and they are already 8 & 9 lbs. We better like chicken HUH!!!
We have had great weather for all the fruit trees to blossom but now the spring freezes have set in, last night it got down to 21 degrees and I see a lot of leaves that turned black.
Some people got to thinking that winter was over and had their tomatoes out, yup now their toms are over and winter is still here.
Mine are still in the window and I still have some that I hope will sprout yet.

When the garden gets going, I hope to have great pictures to share.
Russ

How can I name the chicken until I see a picture of it? Male, female? Can't remember the breed you said it was? That might help. Might know what color it is then.

How are Barb's eyes? Does she have cataracts? If they are bad Medicare would pay for the surgery to remove them and replace the lens if necessary. I and everyone I know that has had the surgery thinks it turned out great.

I waited to plant my tomato seeds until last week. Every year I have started them way too soon. Last year I put them out and it froze them that night. Had to go buy new plants. They are up now and working on the first true leaves.

We have our last freeze tonight so will cover my two toms I got from Gymgirl in Houston , on the way back to Georgia . The others are waiting to go into e-buckets . Hay bales are like hens teeth to find close by so may have to skip them this year . Drought messed up everything . What hay I see advertised is way south of us and Expensive . The mulch hay is full of johnson grass and no way will I bring that into my yard . I'll put out a coupla bell pepper to chop and freeze for cooking and try watermelon , canalope . That's all .

Digger, you say that so matter of factly. That you are having your last freeze tonight and that's that. How do you know that? LOL, I always thought that was up to Mother Nature and who knows what she has in store for us.

I am going to check my alfalfa bales I used last year and if they are solid enough I am going to get some black plastic and cover them to heat them up and then use them again this year.

If I can't use those I am going to use buckets too. The problem is they take so much soil mix and it is so expensive. I am not doing a lot of tomatoes, Think I planted about 2 dozen seeds. But am not going to use them all. I have a dozen different ones and planted 2 of each. All but 3 came up so I poked another seed in each of those plugs.

Our part of Georgia has a late freeze every year after Easter, from time immortal . It always waits until Everything is in full bloom ,or on the wane . . Dogwoods are dropping the leaves and we are 10° cooler than 20 miles away , in the flatter land . Our dogwoods are two to three weeks later than there too .Very dependable .

Hey Guys! Im in and out of here just reading away! Didnt have much input 'cause Ive not been able to find any square bales here at all! Sally was right abought the drought here for the past couple of years scaring the hay farmers into "Squirreling" away any hay they make! With all the early warmth this year I had hoped that there would be some early bales and lots of them, but everyone here is Round baling and storing them. Ive heard that they fear another bad drought because of all the early "Summer" weather so far. So Im still hoping to find some old bales somewhere, but so far no luck! Poooooh!!
Sally Im looking forward to this weekend! You and Johnny have a safe trip down and I'll see you Friday! DING DANG IT!! I just remembered I left my camera at my Mom's , 125 miles away! NO photos of this weekend waaaaah!!

Thanks for the answers Digger & Kent! I watered good anyway and glad I did as the rain went around us.....I also put soaker hoses in.

Kent: My husband, Woody knows Jimmy but not very well as he was a few years behind him in school. Knew his Dad though! lol.. I'm originally from Raleigh so I'm a transplant here.

A friend of mine boxed in the middle row for me. I thought I might put all the "leftovers" in there after the season is over. Hopefully we had our last frost/freeze last night and my bales should be ready to plant in a couple weeks.

The "leftovers" as you call them work very well the following year. By the time next season rolls around you will have a box containing a very dark, rich, worm infested planting medium. Voice of experience here! I've been using those leftovers for about three years now. This year I emptied it all out and started with fresh straw bales. The leftovers went into my raised bed vegetable garden and flowers beds. Good stuff.

Doug

I scraped my leftovers up and put them in big tubs for potting soil and am very stingy with it .
My son thought he could rot a round bale , but it didn't work so well . I'll tear it up and put (pack ) it in contained compost bin , then start on it from scratch .Should do the trick and give lots of compost . We'll see .

What was he going to do sally, decompose it in place? That would take forever.

Yes , it is soft down through the middle, but a long way from the outside . He put the A Sulfate on it and set a sprinkler on top but needed lots more water over longer time . He just lets it set there now . Dumb kid .

My bales have been aging for going on 5 weeks now but they don't seem like they are very decomposed. I tried to dig through one to get an opening so I could get my hand in and see if it was hot and I couldn't hardly get into the bales. Shouldn't they be easier to get into by now? For the first couple of weeks I watered them with strong chicken poo tea for the nitrogen and have kept them moist since. Can't find A. nitrate, etc. around here. Should I try something else on them, is it too close to time to transplant in them now to hit them with anything else or is this how they should be? I do have a lot of grass growing on them but no mushrooms. Do you usually have to take a knife or something to make a well or should it pull apart easier? Help, I don't think I'm doing this right.

Hi there Lost frog! I just use an empty long neck wine bottle to make a hole in my bables! Of course you could always use a full bottle then celebrate later!! LOL!

Sound like they're still not decomposed enough yet. Add some more nitrogen and water very deeply every day for the next few days. If you plant too soon and they heat up they WILL fry your plants. I have experience in that department when first starting bale gardening!

Doug

Some bales are tighter than others . D H used the tip of a chainsaw to cut an 8" hole .He just stabbed in straight . Others , loose enough to use a bottle . Some say that's the way to go .

Russ, are you guys ok? I saw on the news where the tornadoes went into Iowa from Oklahoma. I would hate that. They really are dangerous and make a huge mess don't they?

Well they missed us. We had a lot of wind, heavy rain and thunder boomers. A few trees went down in the city but out here were fine. a small one touched down within 4 blocks of our daughter's place. Took some of the roof off the hospital and there are a lot of trees down as well as quite a few of the wind power towers just north of their town. Their house was spared though. So no damage for our family to clean up in order to have a home. She said the emergency crews are really busy using their street for emergency route.
We will be happy with the rain we got, as we needed a good rain. just not all that went with it. I'll be out in the garden soon, but we could still have another freeze, so I'm not rushing it yet.

Glad you're ok. And your daughter's family too.

I am going to try to get out today and see if the bales are solid enough to plant in for another year. They are alfalfa. I had the best flavored tomatoes last year ever and don't know if it was because of that fact, or what. We had a very late season as June was sooooo cold and wet. Nothing tried to grow in June. I had planted my tomatoes, but the bales probably were just cold and the roots didn't even grow. The plants just sat there.

If they are in good enough shape to use, I am going to cover them with black plastic and try to warm them up. Then I got the idea of maybe planting the tomatoes in them thru the plastic and leave it on there. Whaddaya think?

Let me know. Pros and cons. thanks,

Greetings folks.

I just found this thread. I wished I would have run a crossed it last month. I am doing a straw bale garden this year for the first time and have been researching the process on the web since the beginning of March. I have just about finished prepping and will be planting tomato, pepper, and cucumber seedlings in the next few days. I have attached a pic to let you all see where I am at in the process. I have been away from vegetable gardening for a few years. I used to add a mixture of bone meal, lime, 10-10-10 fertilizer and Epsom salt to my tomatoes and peppers when I planted seedlings in the ground. I haven't made up my mind to exactly what I am going to do with the straw bales. I planned on fertilizing with miracle grow on a regular basis after I transplant the seedlings. If you folks have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. I am glad I found this thread . Thank you kindly.

Thank you for the reassurances. I wrapped the bales in plastic to retain more moisture and have put more nitrogen on them. Hopefully that will help. I don't want to take the chance and burn my plants.

I would say for you 2 newbies that you better get some answers from some of the people who have been on here a while. Please don't go by what I said above llndmon. I have never wrapped mine before and it all depends on the condition of your bales, your weather wherever you live etc.

Kent, Doug, Russ, someone help these people. Jeanette

Im no expert by any sense of the word....but my 2 cents is... Keep the bales wet, wet, wet! They will heat up if kept that way!

Yep

Thank you for the suggestion. I have been watering them every day since March 10th. I have a soaker hose that is layed over the top of each bale and every evening I let it run for a couple of hours. When I started the straw bales I watered for three days then I spread 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate over each bale for three days and finished with 1/4 cup for three days. Watering in well after each application. I then added 1/2 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer to each bale and continued watering everyday. It never seemed to heat up. The hay is breaking down so there is some composting going on just no discernible heat. My fear was that it would heat up after I planted my seedlings but it has been over a month now so I do not have that concern any longer. What I am interested to find out is your opinions on what is the best mixture of nutrients (fertilizer) to use when I transplant my seedlings.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2012 2:52 PM

This message was edited Apr 17, 2012 2:54 PM

I have always just used a slow release organic about 2-3 weeks after planting and that's all but Kent, the Chief Baleman here used to use liquid Miracle Gro every couple of weeks. In my experience they don't need any more water or fertilizer than planting in soil does.

Doug

Thanks for the info Doug. It is greatly appreciated. I will be hanging around to see if any one else has on opinion to offer.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2012 5:34 PM

The only other think I can think of is that you may not feel any heat, unless you can get your hand down into the bale. I never felt heat on the outer parts of a bale. If the hay feels soft and mushy even if you don't feel heat now they may have already heated up and started the decomposition. So if they have already got a little slimy/mushy inside they may already be ready.
I would think that in your area that that could be the case. but not actually putting my hand in the bale, I can't be sure. but it sounds like you have done every thing you were supposed to, to get them cooking.
If that is the case, make a couple holes in each bale about 4" to 5" deep, a little potting soil or compost along with each plant or seed which ever you are using. Water them and watch them grow. I don't think the mushrooms would be growing without some decomposition.
I wish you well friend.
Russ

You know Russ, it never dawned on me to tell her they wouldn't heat on the outside. Sorry. I definitely would use the Epsom Salts and slow release then after they get established I would go with a regular fertilizing schedule. Sorry Doug, just my way verses yours.

Do you guys know what kind of straw you have? i.e. oat, wheat, alfalfa, a mix, orchard grass? Sometimes that does make a difference regarding the fertilizer. Mainly on alfalfa I think. That has more nitrogen.

Thank you for your responses. I am using wheat straw. I was able to get my hand down in mine and did it several times since March 10th. Never did feel any heat but they are decomposing. I have know idea how long they had been setting before I purchased them. I just came to the conclusion that somewhere in the time the were baled and before they reached me the did their thing. Tomorrow will be planting day for me so I guess I will see how it goes. I will be around and let you all know how things are progressing.
Thanks again.

Ok, I'll bet you are right. I think that most of us assume we are using current harvest bales. Maybe yours weren't. Good thinking. good luck, and DO take pictures and keep us posted.

One thing, I didn't even think of. wheat straw does have a feature that other straw does not. Wheat straw is used by many water gardeners. it seems to have the ability that as it decomposes in a stream of water, in a small pond, to help control algae. Seems to keep it from blooming and in turn forming that green slime on top of the water.
However I don't think that will affect the root system of your veggies, as that would be about the same as adding hydrogen peroxide. I believe you should still do okay.
Russ