It would make a great mulch for a perrenial garden, it all depends on whether you like the look of it or not.
Personally, I would use it as a mulch for a veggie garden if you have one.

lots of fresh straw ???
Is it possible you didn't have enough nitrogen material to beak the straw down ?
I just picked up cow manure that has lots of straw with it. I'm going to pull my entire compost pile out, which is mainly brown material, layer the manure with the browns and hopefully it will turn into Berkley's 18 day compost..

Hard to say whether it would deplete nitrogen, w/o looking at how much straw is in it. But most of us would use something like that as a mulch, or finish composting it.

Sounds like it could use some greens if you want to make compost out of it, so mix in some kitchen waste, grass clippings etc.

I agree it can be used for mulch, too. If you like a neat look you can put it down and use a decorative mulch over it. The worms will work it into the soil.

This post was edited by toxcrusadr on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 17:08

Whether materials out to compost will depends on many things starting with the C:N ratio but along with volume and moisture. Unless the needs of the bacteria that will do the digesting are met they will not work and the material will not be composted,
Raw organic matter worked (tilled) into the soil can cause the Soil Food Web to concentrate on digesting that temporarily making avallable Nitrogen unavailable to the plants trying to grow in that soil. How long that might last depends on a number of factors too.
This unfinished compost can be used as a mulch, however, without the problem of N tieup.

I would use it as compost, dig into the garden, add nitrogen as needed. Your earthworms need food, and compost is not real food. partially decomposed straw is excellent food. I would not use it where small seeds are going to be planted, but definitely where large seeds or transplants are used.

A small bag of lawn fertilizer is cheap, and you may come out ahead of this, since composters (specially hot composters) completely neglect parts of the food web. If you do not believe it, try it on some beds, then compare worm density and soil tilth at the end of the season or even better one year from now.

Most of the concern of nitrogen tie up is about wood products. Straw is not a wood product. Wood chips, pine shavings, saw dust generally have a C:N ratio of 400:1 sometimes as high as 500:1. Straw has a C:N of about 70:1. (Don't forget the nitrogen tie up is only temporary--it doesn't actually go away.)

When I am establishing a new perennial bed I dig in generous amounts of an unfinished compost made of horse manure and a wood product bedding. I have never noticed a nitrogen problem with my plants. The only thing I've seen is with hydrangeas is a little shift in their bloom color as the pH changes through the finishing process.

I think you have lots of options. Throw something high in nitrogen on it to finish the composting, dig it in your perennial bed, or use it as mulch. If I need a more finished look when I use compost as mulch I cover it with thin layer of pine bark fines and it looks nice enough for company!

It's not just the C:N ratio of the material but the composition of the material as well. Some straws have high lignin content making them resistant to aerobic composting.

I tried using wheat straw as my main C component mixed with grass clippings. Didn't work so well.

Lloyd

Lloyd I've alway known straw took a bit longer to compost, now I know why. But that doesn't really indicate that it would be a problem tying up nitrogen does it?

I've been using a pelleted straw product with my manure for the last few months. In the stalls it breaks down to a bit bigger than dust size particles--so much, much greater surface area and so far, so good with no composting issues.

Lloyd's observation might explain why straw is generally a superior mulch to hay, as well, because it persists longer and ultimately adds more OM to soil as well as importing less seed.

It may well depend on the volume and shape of the straw. When we spread the straw as we combine, it gets shredded and the full amount of stalk is left on the field. If we bale the straw, only about 6 inches of the stubble is left behind. When we spread, we usually have to add N during seeding. If it is just the stubble, we can sometimes get by with no added N, or at the very least, a much reduced amount. There are of course other variables (thunderstorm precipitation, amount of time after harvest prior to freeze up, soil moisture, spring melt, etc etc) and YMMV.

Lloyd