The Great Straw Bale Experiment

[bughunter99]

So far, the plants growing in the straw bales are half the size of those planted in the amended soil.

They also require much more maintenance related to regular watering.

-Stacy

[sprtsguy76]

These results are not surprising to me. But it probably works really good for some. Maybe its a thing you have to do a few times before you get it down. Nevertheless I find this method very interesting.

Damon

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[zeroma]

The garden where I volunteer is also growing in straw bales this year. Some eggplants, sweet bell peppers, and tomatoes. Should be interesting! Do you have any photos bughunter99?

I took some but haven't got around to editing them. Yet.

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by zeroma

The garden where I volunteer is also growing in straw bales this year. Some eggplants, sweet bell peppers, and tomatoes. Should be interesting! Do you have any photos bughunter99?

I took some but haven't got around to editing them. Yet.

Here are some I just took. The big plants in the center are the heirloom potatoes.
The bales have been planted with tomatoes, cukes, peppers and melons. So far the cukes hate it, the tomatoes are growing but slower compared to same variety in the ground or containers. The peppers in the bales might be slightly bigger than the same variety in the garden. The melons are getting dessimated by the pill bugs.

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by bughunter99

So far, the plants growing in the straw bales are half the size of those planted in the amended soil.

They also require much more maintenance related to regular watering.

-Stacy

Strawbale growing is easy, but what did you do to the bale before you planted it?

Did you treat it with nutrients the same as you did with your regular garden plants. Probably not.

All the strawbale is used for is a substitute for soil, but it has to be treated just the same as what you would treat your other plants in your garden. Then it will work.

Terry Layman

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by SIP Gro-Tubs

Strawbale growing is easy, but what did you do to the bale before you planted it?

Did you treat it with nutrients the same as you did with your regular garden plants. Probably not.

All the strawbale is used for is a substitute for soil, but it has to be treated just the same as what you would treat your other plants in your garden. Then it will work.

Terry Layman

Actually, Terry I did indeed enhance the nutrient level of the bales for an entire month before planting in them. I remain underwhelmed with their performance for everything other than being a great place to grow billions of pill bugs. They are also performing well as sides to a compost area that is supporting potato plants.

Do straw bales support plant growth? Sure. Do they do it as well as the soil or the containers? Nope,not so far. Not even close. The experiment will continue though for the rest of the summer

Stacy

[Master_Gardener]

Originally Posted by bughunter99

So far, the plants growing in the straw bales are half the size of those planted in the amended soil.

They also require much more maintenance related to regular watering.

-Stacy

I am considering straw bale gardening for growing mushrooms. I've been to busy to make it happen so far this year, but I want to try it.

There is also a possibility that the straw was treated with an herbicide which could reduce or even prevent plant growth.

Did you pre-treat the bale to condition it prior to use? By pre-treat, I'm thinking water soaking, etc. to get the straw 'working' before planting it out.

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by Master_Gardener

I am considering straw bale gardening for growing mushrooms. I've been to busy to make it happen so far this year, but I want to try it.

There is also a possibility that the straw was treated with an herbicide which could reduce or even prevent plant growth.

Did you pre-treat the bale to condition it prior to use? By pre-treat, I'm thinking water soaking, etc. to get the straw 'working' before planting it out.

Hi Master Gardener. Great questions.

The straw is organic, purchased from a local organic wheat farmer.

Yes the bale was conditioned for a full month prior to planting. Our spring has been ridiculous with rain (9 inches one week) so the bales were very wet even before I took the hose to them to be sure.

In addition to water, they were top dressed once a week with blood meal, bone meal, compost and fish water to increase the nutrients of the bale.

This is substantially more work than I have had to put into the preparation for the ground and container plants which is why so far I am underwhelmed.

The bales are supporting mushroom growth, but then it is so wet, so is everything else.

Stacy

Stacy

[bughunter99]

Ignore the partial cage, that is a deer discourage r, not a tomato supporter.

[bughunter99]

[zeroma]

Thanks for the photos. The straw bales we have aren't doing all that great either. But it could be a number of things. They were 1 year old bales, very nice and wet at the time we planted. We added a shovel full of garden soil, and fish fertilizer.

Things were looking okay for a while, but we had several hot windy days and they got dried out. That's one thing about having a community type garden - we don't meet there every day as you would in your own yard. We are trying it this year because our garden is a demonstration garden in part. What better way to demo something and do the 'show-and tell' story that will go along with it.


Next year we will have some better ideas (like providing fertilizer/nuits to them ahead of time) on how to do it better from this year's experience.

[dice]

Wheat straw is fairly high-carbon. It needs a lot of nitrogen to feed the
bacteria digesing the high-carbon straw:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=8618

[cslinde]

There is a right and wrong way to Strawbale Garden. It is good to do you research before. Using old bales is not a problem and could even be an asset if done correctly. I have not done everything textbook but I am having success.

We moved into a house with a large garden (30 x 60 foot) but it was not used for a number of years. I never gardened before and was excited to try. The soil was more clay and very difficult to work. Brought in manure, compost, whatever I could. After 2 years Nothing grew. I heard of strawbale gardening and my hope was renewed.

I started of with 28 bales which only filled up a third of my garden

The key is to preparing your bales prior to planting. This takes 2 weeks or longer. it recommended to use Nitrogen or Urea. I was limited on funds but had ALOT of Miracle Grow. I took the granules and just poured the granules on the bales and them watered them granules into the bales on day one.

Day 2: watered bales

Day 3: Miracle Grow Granules on bales and watered them in.

Day 4 watered bales

Day 5: Watered bales with Miracle grow Sprayer with solution.

Day 6 - 12: watered bales daily and some days use miracle grow solution.

By day ten the bales inside were HOT. After a few days on day 12 they cooled down. Put a 2-3 inch layer of manure and nitrogen rich compost on all bales. And i began to add plants. I have about 8 varieties of Tomatoes, about 6 varieties of peppers, summer squash, zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin, watermelon.

Currently my plants are over double the size they ever got in the dirt after the whole season last year. By July 4th I am hoping they are going to be monsters. I already have MANY tomatoes and Peppers.

I water with Miracle Grow once a week and water often. I added soaker hoses throughout the bales and watered A LOT.

Lessons Learned:
You can over water! I have a well so I would turn on hoses and let them run for HOURS. I didn’t think about it. I found out by doing this you sap out the nutrients you are putting in. You Must keep the bales from drying out so they need to stay moist. They CANT dry out. They retain water pretty well so I will water only when they need it. I even stopped using the soaker hoses so I can monitor how much they are getting.

You can have success but it’s so much more than just putting a plant in a bale. Do your research.

[bughunter99]

My research was done, thank you very much no need to get snotty. Particularly not for a first post. Sheesh. As I have said, the bales were well prepped for a full month before I planted in them.


Here is the update on my great straw bale experiment.

Conditions. It has rained large amounts per week, all spring, all summer so far. These bales have not dried out. AT ALL.

To date the bales have required four times the fertilizer that my plants in the ground and the self watering containers have. I have had to fertilize them more because rain more easily washes the nutrients out. It is organic fertilizer, I don't use petroleum products in the garden.

To date, the plants in the bales are 1/4 the size compared to the plants in the SWC's and the ground.

The bales are infested, and I mean infested with pill bugs and ants. There is no organic resolution for this issue. The bugs are not hurting the tomatoes. They have however destroyed the melons, cukes and peppers and verbena. Big waste of time and money there.

The bales are rotting nicely and should be a good addition in the fall.

There are a lot of weeds in the bales, despite them being straw and allegedly weed seed free. Im not so excited about new weeds in the garden.


The tomato plants are disease free, growing but very scrawny. Not a single tomato on any of them only scattered blooms. Their color is good, but it can change on a dime with the rains we have been having.

The potatoes planted in the yard waste in the center of the bale circle are still going strong though starting to get nipped on.

The deer have not revisited since I put the bean teepee. It is probably freaking them out.


I am sure in conditions where soil conditions suck, bales might be OK. However to date when I compare them to my soil that does not suck and my SWC I find them serverely lacking. The resources needs too high, the maintenance needs too high, the water needs too high for WORSE production.

Our weather is now finely scheduled to dry out some. I will post again in a month if something changes. Right now my opinion remains it is just another resource intensive gimmick not worth the drive to fetch the bales.

Stacy

[cslinde]

Originally Posted by bughunter99

My research was done, thank you very much no need to get snotty. Particularly not for a first post. Sheesh. As I have said, the bales were well prepped for a full month before I planted in them.

Stacy

Wow! Not being snotty just sharing my experience. I am not sure I am the snotty one, just saying. I wasnt't directing my post to anyone but was excited to share my success story. I was only making mention to the post of the old bales thinking for me that would have been an assett in my garden. I have terrible soil which is why I needed to spend time to make sure my process was correct. My post was for the person who is looking into doing this for themselves and information I wish i would have found early on. Some of the info i have was found after i started the process. I have never gardened before and thought this was an open forum to discuss and share our trials and successes. i was very excited to be a part of this forum, thanks for tainting my experience. Please dont assume someones intent or mis-intent and i am sorry that i hit a nerve.