Can't find ammonium sulfate anywhere. How much blood meal do I use for the first few doses, then how much for the last four days?
My bale won't break down!
Pam, Urea or any high nitrogen fertilizer will do. Don't get an expensive fertilizer. Look in the grass (lawn) section.
Jeanette
Pam: if you use Blood Meal, about 1 cup/bale, every other day beginning about day 3 or 4 is what some have used, and then monitor your bales.
It's funny, I have 1 bale in my cuke row where 3 out of 4 plants have died.
I checked them and it feels like the bale is still "cooking" after all these weeks.
The rest of the bales are at ambient temps.
I was thinking that maybe some kind of poison got into that bale, but why didn't the 4th one die? You think you are cooking your plants in that bale?
Jeanette
if you wrap your bales and add urea at 1/2 to 1 cup per bale and water it in, they will shoot up to 140+ in no time and possibly stay there for 20 days
20 days??? Better not do that!!
Jeanette
2ndChance, I haven't read all of these but I do know how difficult it was to make a hole to plant anything in. But before I go any farther, I was told to have the strings on the ground to prevent the water from just flowing though and out the bottom. Did you ever switch it. Mine finally started breaking down towards the end of the first season. I know, its a long time to wait but meanwhile, I made holes with a prybar you know the kind that you change tires with, then I also added some additional soil to the top for added nutrients. I planted strawberries and herbs and sugarsnap peas the first year and my peas did great and my strawberries were decent too. But this year, WOW, my strawberries are kicking you know what and everything else is doing great. I am going to have to get more bales next year, as these have really started to break down and I think what I am going to do is just use these as a ground cover for the new bales.
I do hope you have been told to turn the bales so that the string is on the ground though. That would have been your first mistake if you didn't.
Jan
here are my bales this year about two months ago. now they are even better
Jan those strawberries look good enough to eat!! So Jan, what are the results of the hay vs straw bales?
Jeanette
Check this out, I just took this beauty. I just picked it and I will show you where it came from
here are the strawberries today
I haven't used the hay only the straw as it produces less seed. I like them just fine but don't have anything to compare them with. here are my strawberries and my furry garden gnome
Jan: bravo, sister, bravo!
Hey, coming from you Kent I take that as a real compliment. Thank you. I am so please with my strawberries as I just read an article on arthritis and the benifits of eating strawberries. Very enlightening. I just went on the internet and put in arthritis and strawberries. I was just told that eating them when you have RA or any of the osteoarthritis is very bad for you and I freaked out. I am so glad that I could prove her wrong and I love my berries. Heheh
Reread this and laughed a long while. Wondering who I will ask to voluntarily pee on my future veggy patch! Perhaps the dog? He would do it for free....
Maybe I should save pee in jars, that would be a fun addition to the fridge. I love this forum and have actually gotten a lot of good ideas.
C
A lot of folks do have a "slop jar" that they accumulate urine to help with the deer. I put up a fence and that works well for me.
Those berries have my moth watering!!
CajunKY, how do you make a MOTH water???? Sorry, couldn't resist!
Well, there won't be any this year if they don't get here soon. Had surgery on Thursday and my dad gum Strawberries that I
ordered didn't get here in tim so my DSH said he will plant them for me if I can show him how.
OUCH!!!
I know how to make a moth water!!!
Sneak up behind him and holler BOO!!! :-)
Should you collect the moth"water" to use on a bale?
C
Absolutely! It's very potent, so a little goes a long way. Better to dilute it and then spread it.
But don't get it on your hands. It has strange qualities.
Cajun, is the moth male or female? Does it lift it's leg when it waters? Does the water only work on berries?
Cajun: so true about getting it on you. Those I talked to that did said they all had strange desires to get up close to any bright light. Took about 2 weeks for it to wear off.
I'm truly sorry I got this going!!!
Doug
I was thinking, would my family eat veggies that started with "special" ammonia compounds? I think if I do that it will be my secrete. As for the moth thing, it was enjoyable while it lasted.
C
From what orofice do you secrete this amonia compound? (here we go again! LOL)
LOL, no more Cajun. 'course, Kent will think of something.
If you have a problem with ammonia, just get a high nitrogen lawn fertilizer. That will work too. But, I really think it is nice if you can get it to decompose naturally, but I think it takes more than just a couple of months. I have one bale that has been out all of last summer without having anything growing in it. I will take a look at it and see what kind of condition it is in. Should be interesting.
I got it at the same time as the rest of my bales. The ones I planted. I just never got around to planting anything in it. However, I didn't treat it either. So, that would be one done naturally all thru the growing season last year and all winter clear to now.
I'll look tomorrow.
Strings need cut to let air flow and water to get get into the bale....
I brace the strawbale with stakes and rope.....then I spray the whole
bale with Alaskan brand fish fertilizer.....smells bad, but works great
for my flowers......
I thought the string was supposed to be left on? I have fish emulsion, guess that will be more acceptable than man'made compounds.
C
I don't think you want to cut those strings!!! Not for tomatoes etc. Please don't. Maybe if you want to try some, but don't do it with all of your bales
edited to add: Dump on all the fish fertilizer you want.
This message was edited Mar 10, 2010 7:32 PM
I'm so glad I checked in here to see some new tips - things to help break down my strawbales. You all made me really LOL so thank you!
One of my dogs seems to like to hike on the bales but he hits the sides.
Grass is growing nicely on the tops of the bales now. I'm not sure if they heated up after I put on some bonemeal last month. So do I need to do another treatment to be sure? Or do I just get in there and go for it?
this will be my first year strawbale gardening.
Put your hand down inside the bales and see if it is warm, hot, or???? When do you normally plant them there? Sorry, I don't know anything about your area. Do you get frost there? If not and the bales are warm and not hot, I would plant.
I was wondering Gourdbeader what do you do with your strawberries to get them to grow so well. Mine are staying small I have used every kind of fetilizer and they just sit there, they look good and green now but not growing, some have been in for a couple of months and some about a month the bales look good and broke down. And my new bales are starting to show some white furry mold on the outside I take it that thats a good thing. But they don't seem to be getting anywhere near ready to plant and I am ready. I have allready planted my raised bed garden. And i can't wait to plant the rest of the new bales. Maybe I need some moth water cause I ain't urinating on my bales.
Allwild: you referred to BONE MEAL. Not sure what that will do, but it's BLOOD MEAL that has the nitrogen.
I do use bone meal when planting roses.
Think one thing you guys might think about when adding bonemeal and bloodmeal, are they attracting your dogs??
I'll look for some blood meal and add that too. I'm getting anxious.
Thanks much Kent! Actually, I had put the bonemeal on and then realized it should be bloodmeal, so I did put bloodmeal on them also. haha Not sure why I get them mixed up, except they are both 'meals'. ??
And YES, the dogs were all over the bloodmeal, and had their noses all over in the bales!! I've been having trouble keeping my 5 month old pup off the bales!
According to the Farmer's Almanac, March 3rd was our last frost date. It's been in the low 40's in the mornings so still a bit chilly to actually plant my tomatoes and others out, I think.
A couple of the bales have mushrooms growing off the sides? Not sure why that is.
Alwild!! Finally mushrooms!! Wonderful. You're on your way. Don't think it matters that they are coming off the sides. When they show up that's good.
As an old time farmer's kid I learned early on that the string should be the sides of a bale. This leaves the mycro herd up from the bottom and the water down from the top. You can easily see this by looking at the cut ends on the top and bottom of the bale. This will give you the fastest decomposition.
On the subject of hay.... alfalfa has the highest nitrogen and is thought by many to be equal in trace elements to kelp meal. I had a six bale garden last year and used nothing but fish oil and compost tea as fertilizer. I poked spring onions in the string side. It was a small this and that garden.