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Post by stevenson on Apr 17, 2010 23:01:52 GMT -5
In your opinion, which would be better to use for mulch in my garden and around my tomatoes? Straw or Hay
I am concerned about adding weed seeds to the soil with hay.
Your thoughts?
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on Apr 17, 2010 23:19:07 GMT -5
I use straw on my garden. I've been told that farmers mow/bale their fields earlier in Michigan than they used to so we don't have to worry about weed seeds BUT my friend used hay tucked right up to her tomatoes and peppers and when it molded it killed many of her plants.
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landarc
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Post by landarc on Apr 18, 2010 0:34:27 GMT -5
Straw is your best option to avoid weed seed and mold.
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jcm05
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Post by jcm05 on Apr 18, 2010 7:29:37 GMT -5
Straw, but just be aware that most employees at garden centers may not even know what the difference is.
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Post by ozarklady on Apr 18, 2010 11:08:59 GMT -5
Hay can be used if you sprout the weed seeds first.
If I were buying just for the garden, I would pick straw. But, if I had old hay, I would sprout it and then use it. Sprout it on a tarp, or controlled area.
I set bales out and let the rain get them. They sprout and green up. Then just flip it over and it will kill the ones on the bottom. Keep doing this, and soon you will have no more greens. I then open the bale, and let rain get it again. Soon I have mulch that has no weed seeds in it left to germinate.
I use hay, because, I have it for my livestock, and when the season is over, I need to get rid of it, the nutrient value is low for my animals. So, I turn it into mulch at that time.
I find that sunshine gets rid of the mold issues. When I have a barn leak and hay gets wet and molds, just plop that bale in the sun, it will clean it up, then sprout any seeds not already sprouted, and you have usable mulch.
You can also dry your grass clippings, and sprout them on a tarp to use as mulch also.
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Post by stevenson on Apr 18, 2010 13:31:06 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses. I hadn't really taken the mold issue into consideration....good thing to think about. If i can get my hands on straw, that's what I am going to get. Although I am not going to pay garden center prices I live close enough to farmers to get it from the source.
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PVP
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Post by PVP on Apr 18, 2010 21:01:42 GMT -5
I use wheat straw applied thickly. It forms a mat and suppresses about 95% of the weeds I would otherwise have to deal with. Also reduces irrigation to none or nearly none needed.
One problem I've had with wheat straw, or possibly it was the compost I bought that contained horse and dairy manure, was a leaf cupping issue that one year actually resulted in some plants twisting in on themselves so badly that they choked their own flowers and growing tips to death.
I thought this was herbicide drift from my neighbor or a nearby grain field, but I did not observe any damage on any other foliage between my tomato plants and the closest yard or field.
Then I saw a message posted at another tomato board by the person who posts here as GOBMaters. Below I have paraphrased what he said:
The herbicide Milestone (aminopyralid) is used for broadleaf control in pastures and on wheat fields. It will carry over in manure and compost made from manure where the cattle has eaten the pasture grass or hay, or when straw or waste stall bedding from wheat treated with Milestone is used for mulch or as part of the compost.
Aminopyralid can remain in garden soil for several years and cause severe damage to tomatoes and other solanaceae crops like eggplants and peppers. You have to be careful anymore when obtaining compost, manure or straw that the farmer doesn't use Milestone or feed the animals fodder or pasture treated with Milestone.
Like I say, that is a paraphrasing of what was said. There also was discussion that symptoms with tomatoes sometimes mimic or are mistaken for Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus.
I think maybe in milder cases this carry-over causes severe leaf cupping, rolling or twisting. Some of my plants fell to this apparent problem and some outgrew it.
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Post by darthslater on Apr 19, 2010 0:54:48 GMT -5
I use straw, I have used hay in a pinch but it isnt worth the time for me to sprout it and do all that stuff, I have way to many tomato plants to be that patient news papper put down and soaked works well also, but you have to keep it wet. Also used carpet works very well and can be cut into manageable size. Like Pap, I had almost no weeds using a nice mat of straw.
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on Apr 25, 2010 19:28:36 GMT -5
Forgot to add: Cocoa bean mulch molds and can kill if the plants are tucked in. I learned this the hard way in containers.
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Post by mawkhawk on Apr 28, 2010 7:27:12 GMT -5
So I'm allergic to hay, straw, grass, etc. In the past I've occasionally used bagged wood chip mulch. My town chips Xmas trees every winter and offers the mulch for free. Any thoughts about using Xmas tree mulch in the garden? I've read where people are very pro and very con.
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jcm05
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Post by jcm05 on Apr 28, 2010 9:04:54 GMT -5
There are very few "cons" to mulching. Were they referring to the acidity of the pine needles?
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Post by ozarklady on Apr 28, 2010 10:19:42 GMT -5
One year, a landscape friend of mine, had a pick up truck load of mulch, allegedly pine chips, and he wanted to dump them somewhere. I kindly offered my garden as the dump site. So, I kept adding them to my beds as mulch. Pretty soon I noticed a rash, and it kept getting worse. It honestly looked like poison ivy, but it only got worse if I went to the garden.
I soon started planting in a different location, and the rash left. I then tried the original garden with all that lovely mulch, and broke out in a rash again.
I have a major allergy to cedar. I can touch pine cones, and all things pine, but nothing cedar without breaking out. I find it interesting that I break out from pine mulch, and Pine-sol cleaner, and not to pine trees, pine needles, nor pine cones.
And I am the official poison ivy/oak remover, I have not once broken out in a rash from these. But, I must wash up good afterwards, because my hubby will break out second hand from these!
So, be sure to test some before you cover your whole garden with it. The "pine chip" mulched garden was abandoned, and new garden made in self defense.
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Post by mawkhawk on Apr 28, 2010 10:38:03 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies. I've already gotten a truck load and mulched some lawn areas and it didn't cause seem to cause me any physical problems, other than my usual allergy stuff.
Update: OK, so, hmmm, they actually just told me that it is whatver trees the city happens to cut down/trim, etc, they chip it and dump it in this pile like a lot of other cities. I have read elsewhere that people still use it on their veg gardens tho.
The potential issues that I've read about are:
1. Problems with introducing mold and fungal diseases as others have already stated 2. Yeah, and the acid in pine 3. And that it'll absorb too many nutrients from the soil. If I did this I'd have to turn it in in the fall as I'm not gonna rake all that mulch out of there. So that might be a problem.
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Post by stevenson on May 6, 2010 20:00:14 GMT -5
Part 2 of my original question:
My tomatoes are planted and I have the straw....but I have been told that it is too early to to place the straw. I was told to wait until after the spring rains pass because if I do it will hold too much moisture in the soil and cause molding.
What are your opinions?
Also, I am in southern Indiana. Looks like we're gonna get one more cold spell (blackberry winter) this weekend, but I should be good after that. It is also supposed to rain several days in the near future.
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on May 6, 2010 20:39:26 GMT -5
Hi, Stevenson.
I like to get my straw mulch applied to my tomato patch early before the rains splash any disease pathogens from the soil up on the foliage. Haven't noticed any mold with straw.
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