I don't mulch though a couple of people I know use 1-2" of salt hay and as long as the drainage is ok, they say it works well. The only thing I'd be concerned about would be the timing ... getting it on very early will keep the soil cooler so the initial development will be slower. Personally, after planting I just sprinkle the area with corn gluten meal which inhibits seed germination and the weeds are few and far between.

thanks.

it is the initial set of weeds that is brutal so mulching early would stop that but then also cool the soil. i failed to control the weeds and i had a huge mess taking hours to weed. i may try the corn gluten but i have heard it is expensive, what's the price and what coverage does that cover? i could much with chopped straw now but weeds are not too hard to control now cuz once a week i can pull them spending just 10-15 minutes. figure another month and it's so hot weeds don't germinate. by late july they can start up but i pull the onions about 8/7 each year so weed growth in late july is no big deal.

thanks,

tom

Tom - for the corn gluten, I've used both straight corn gluten ( I think it was called cockadoodle-doo) and the 6 lb bag cost around $18 for 300 sq. ft. coverage. I also found online that Espoma makes a corn gluten 9-0-0 organic fertilizer that was $25 to cover 1000 sq.ft. that I think I'll try next year and just cut out one of my foliar feedings. Based on our temps of late, I'm hoping that weed germination is going to slow down since I'm melting when I go out to pull them.

cock-a-doodle-do is organic chicken manure, may have some compost but is chicken manure. i'll have to check feed store next spring for corn gluten price. thanks.

planted onions and garlic on the 15 Oct. last year- fertilized with 5-10-10 - mulched onions and garlic with 6"of leaves directly out of bagger- did two 30' rows of garlic and two 30' rows of stuttgard onions the same way-excellent results this year- left mulch on this growing season- super onions and garlic. same time planted two rows of stuttgarders with leaves and removed most of leaves in the spring- didn't have enough days in the week to keep up with the weeding- couldn't buy any onions this fall to plant- next spring going to plant onions and mulch with straw or wood shavings - don't recommend using to much organic composted chicken manure- it's high in nitrogen- look for composted manure with higher phos. and potash (N-P-K)-goodluck this coming spring- the key is to buy quality sets right in the begining-HAPPY GARDENING!!!

Robert, I'm curious about the type of onions you plant in October.

Concerning mulching, last year I put onion transplants in the ground in April. They were tiny, and when I tried to put mulch down a few weeks later, it was difficult to do without burying the onion leaves. This year I plan a different approach. I'm going to spread a one inch layer of chopped up leaves on the bed and then multiplant onion seedlings in blocks. Of course I'll have to temporarily push aside enough mulch at each hole to do this. When the leaves get bigger, I'll be able to put down more mulch as needed. Mulching is the way to go.

I tried a different approach last year in which I plant and mulch alternately. I plant a row of onion plants, then gently push a line of mulch up against the row of onions, stopping when the mulch is about one foot wide. Then plant a second row of onion plants at the edge of the mulch, and push more mulch up against these plants. I repeat this until all of the onion rows are planted. This method works very well avoids the delicate job of trying to apply mulch between rows of established onions, which usually breaks a lot of leaves.

TomNJ