I read about that, it sounds interesting. Try one as a n experiment & see how you (& the brug) like it. I use straw as mulch on my garden. Saves on weeding & watering & adds to the soil at the end of the year.

Linda

What do you do? Do you use it as a mulch or actually use it as a growing medium? I use salt marsh hay on some plants and occasionally straw and just dig it under at the end of the season. It's great for ammending the soil.
Karyn

I just went to the Jersey shore and brought back seaweed.My sister's neighbor has a great flower & veggie garden. She uses seaweed to amend her soil & as a mulch. I was gonna do the tea thing but she said don't bother, just spread around. Same principle as the straw, I would think.

Theresa

Jim

Are you talking bout using some old rotten bales of straw?

??? Are you talking about using straw as a mulch?

The general idea is to start with a bale & keep it soaking wet until it starts to decay & then plant your plant in the middle of it. It is mulched & fed at the same time as the straw or hay breaks down. Plow under whatever is left over at the end of the year.

Linda

I do believe Jim is talking about using the bales of hay as a growing media. Plant right in the baled hay is what I think he means.

Yes, You plant in the middle of the whole bale. You don't separate the sections or remove the twine. It has to be kept good & wet & starting to break down or it will just dry out the roots. You are using it instead of soil.

Linda

I've never tried it but I've seen it done with vegetables. The lady actually grew all of her vegetables that way. She had squash, tomatoes, cukes and I cant remember what else. She did dig a pocket out of the straw and put in potting soil when planting - I guess to give the roots something to hold onto while the bale breaks down. If you try it let us know how it works. It sounds like an interesting experiment.

You should ask onesimus , they use straw bale gardening with success. I haven't tried it yet but have been tempted.

If you are still having trouble with nematodes, I saw in an old Burpee gardening book that crab meal helps control nematodes because it is high in chitin which promotes the growth of chitin eating fungi. The exoskeletons of harmful nematods are made of chitin so the 'good' chitin eating fungi etc. consume them.

Here is a link that might be useful: some links

I have seen this done with Tomatoes and vegetables, I can't imagine it would be any different with brugs. I may just have to try it too. Linda ( TOL)

That sounds really interesting. I might have to try it. SJN thanks for the tip about using crabmeal. That's pretty easy to get here because of all the crab processing plants on the Eastern Shore of MD.
Karyn

The only problem with bales here is it is real hard to find the small ones. Everything is in the round style now. I saw some real nice tomatoes being grown on bales. Thought it might be fun to try. It has to be better than my crappy soil and it is just too hot for pots.

Jim

I'm growing eggplants, tomatoes and peppers in wheat strawbales. I do give weekly feedings of MG.
Instead of trying brugs in bales, you could make some forms for them, and plant them above ground. Like this, you won't have to replace the strawbales and pull up the brugs.
I have unco-operative, hard, clay soil. Made wooden 2 X 2 X 1 forms, for all my 40 odd brugs. But first I broadcast gypsum before putting in the soil. (1/2 top soil 1/2 compost)
You could also make use of 55 gallon barrels. Just cut them down to size.

I decided to try some tomato plants in a bale of straw. I saturated it thoroughly and cut holes into it (damn that was hard!) and set my plants in. I only did it yesterday so how they do remains to be seen. I also have hard red clay and didn't feel like digging up anywhere else to plant them so if the straw works it will be great. If the plants do well I'll do it with more things next season. Once the bales decompose I can just till them into the soil.
Karyn

Karyn, I let my wheat bales "cook" for about 3 weeks, before I planted any veges. Wife planted annuals in between them (scabiosa's one) and the bugs didn't bother the veges at all.
If you're in a hurry, there's the 10 day method, suggested by a pro in Dave's Garden.
Days 1Â3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet.
Days 4Â6: Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales.
Days 7Â9: Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.
Day 10: No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.
Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales. Using a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant, place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can.

Also, some are known to use it for another crop, like potatoes, once the strawbales decompose.

For more references:
www.nicholsgardennursery.com
www.county.ces.uga.edu
www.co.clay.mn.us

Good luck Karyn.

These bales had been sitting outside for at least a month so hopefully they were ready enough because the tomatos are already in. lol Even though the bales have been exposed to the elements for quite a while they don't seem to have broken down much. I had a heck of a time trying to cut out holes for the plants. I ended up using a skinny saw. I have used straw for growing potatos in a barrel before and it worked very well. They were planted in soil but a straw mixture was put around the plant as it grew. It definitely increased the potato harvest by quite a bit. Thanks for the links.
Karyn

I bought some heirloom tomatoes so they might see the bales but will have to try a brug or two. Being that we are in a drought hay is hard to find in small bales but I have some friends who grow it. I will see if they will drop off about 20 bales.

SJN I read that about crustacean bodies. There is a wealth of information on the governments requirements for natural produce. I can get all the crab bodies I wants for free from the crab house. I hate the smell..... I may have to get a few hundred pounds in burlap sacks and put it on the back of the property for a few weeks and crush it with the truck. Might be easier to see where they sell it processed.

Onesimus thanks for the info. I had read about bale temp etc. I need to see the price of 1 x 12's I may need to make a few to try. I do have a bunch of 30 gallon white barrels cut in half but they are kind of ugly and 1/4" plastic is not much of an insulator from the heat.

Jim