Generally straw = insulation, but I think I know where you are going with this.

If you plan to soak the straw and have it decomposing inside your hot house then it would provide heat. But if you cover the straw with plastic how would you keep it wet? I'm guessing here, but I think you'll need to wet it down more than once, especially if it gets reasonably warm.

The process I'm mentioning I've heard of being done by placing the straw bales on the sides of the greenhouse, where they provide wind barriers/solidity to the sides, and when soaked down some in the spring provide heat from the decomposition. Once they've broken down enough they can be moved into the garden for mulch/compost.

Sounds like a great idea, let us know how it goes (what temps you can hold, etc). Pictures are always fun.

Cheers,
Kyle

Depends on where in the United States you are. If you are in North Dakota you are too early trying to grow tomatoes, but if you are in Florida you may be a bit too late since tomatoes are best grown, in most of Florida, during the winter. Black, or any other, plastic should not have any use in any organic garden since it is a non remewable resource.

'tn' probably stands for Tenn, z6-7 depending, I'll guess, so about right for starting toms.

Straw has pretty much no thermal mass. You'd be better off with concrete blocks painted black and filled with sand or dirt, as an easy-to-do example. The hotbed idea is good though I think you'll need some strong green in the straw to get it to kick. Urine would be easiest. Nothing like urine-soaked straw. 30 bales will need a lot more urine than a couple people can produce in a short time. Can you borrow a horse?

you are correct Tn stands for Tennessee, north west to be exact. I did wet the straw down real good but was talking to a frnd who has horses up in Pa and he is saying to watch for mold, but this is not hay its straw. I assume mold could still be a problem???? Is their a natural nitrogen fertilizer that could be sprayed on it to help it heat, I have another frnd who has an organic biz, Mother earth organics in Pa and sells this stuff it's called feedback liquid compost, it says on the bottle .01% humic acid(fulvic,ulmic acids) plus colloidal minerals, kelp& fermented molasses. n=.0002202% water soluble .0000002% water insoluble .00022, available phosphate p2o3 .0000054%, soluble potash k2o.000425%.... Concentrated Soil & Solution Conditioner

FeedBack® is a complete gourmet meal for soil, solution, plants & microbes.

 FeedBack® is a Catalyst and functions by activating microbiology (beneficial bacteria & fungi).

 Balances malnourished soil & solution - adding essential nutrition including humic, fulvic & ulmic acids, trace elements, kelp, surfactants, enzymes & sugar cane ferment.

 Research @ Yale University on the effects of FeedBack® shows improved growth & very deep rooting even in low (acidic) pH!

 Significantly reduces plant stress caused by disease, drought, pH & malnourished soils and soilless media. will somthing like this help it along????

Black, or any other, plastic should not have any use in any organic garden since it is a non remewable resource.

That statement is perhaps a bit harsh .....depending..... I have some IRT 100 plastic that I use for earlier watermelons. It is cut into 3x4 rectangles and is reuseable for several years.

Since organic gardeners/farmers should also be environmentalists, or at least somewhat concerned about the environment, using non renewable resources should not be part of the overall plan, or at least we should be minimizing the use of these non renewable resources. Simply purchasing these products made from non renewable materials gives the manufacturer the incentive to make more. If you refuse to buy and use them there would be less incentive to manufacture them which contributes to the pollution of our world.

how bout we don't argue about plastic and get back to the real topic, start a new thread if you want to talk about the pros and cons of plastic. im trying to solve a problem and am looking to you all for advice, since you all are probably more experienced than me. So is their a organic nitrogen solution that could be sprayed on these bales to heat them up.

I wouldn't waste anything expensive on it. How about buy a gallon of mollasses and make a super-strong solution? Might work, though if you've already soaked the bales with plain water it may be difficult to get them going. If so, you could thin the mollasses just enough to make it good and runny, pour it on and fluff it around a bit with the fork, pour some more on and so on......

Go get some Urea (pure nitrogren). Wet those bales down and put gobs of Urea on them. Do this every other day for 6 days and watch the steam begin to rise from the centers. If you put your hand inside it will be hot. This is super-nuclear composting.