Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

Having a hard time finding straw this year!

Kent- Do you know any who have used hay for this concept? I'm finding plenty of hay, and for $2.50 a bale but the straw, when I can find it, is $5-$6.99/bale, and it's in very short supply. I understand that there would likely be a lot more weeds growing in the hay, but other than that, would it work??

 

Potato questions

Geez- I know I'm starting to be a pest, but I'm so excited and just want to know everything!

In the pictures of your 'potato bed', it looks as if you have the straw down in a trench for the potatoes- is that correct? So they're still under ground, but just in straw?

Thanks for all of your guidance, Kent.

Suzan

 

Hay works just fine.

There are some bale gardeners who have tried both hay and straw and prefer the hay. I want to try hay, myself, one of these summers.

One good thing about the hay is that it has its own built-in nitrogen source, so very little prep other than keeping it moist.

As for the weeds, very little weeds in hay/grass bales, from what I've heard.

 

No trench.

I just took the previous year's straw, fluffed it up with a pitchfork and made a row on TOP of the ground. Cut up some seed potatoes and placed them in the straw about 5-6 inches and kept the bales moist until the potatoes sprouted. Then I started feeding them on a regular basis.

 

Kent,

Instead of ammonium nitrate can you use calcium nitrate?

 

Michelle, I printed out Kent's CCG article last night, so I can answer that for you. In his own words... "You can substitute blood meal for the nitrate. Just use about 1 cup per bale every other day for Days 4-9."

How many bales are you going to do? I'm going to give 6 a try this year. Tomatoes, squash, cukes & okra.

 

Sorry to be so stupid, but does that mean the answer to my question is no?

I'm not doing a garden, I'm working on a project for work. We don't sell ammonium nitrate but we do have calcium nitrate so I'm wondering if you can substitute one for the other.

Thanks!

 

Well, I have no idea then. I just know that blood meal is the only thing Kent mentioned as a substitute for the ammonium nitrate for strawbale gardening.

 

Hopefully, Kent will come on and give me the answer. Thanks!

 

I have no experience with this product. Here's what wiki has to say about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_nitrate

The NPK (nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium) for calcium nitrate is 15-0-0 and the info says it's used as a fertilizer, so it just may work. You'll have to determine your own amounts, but probably a cup/bale for days 4, 6, and 8 would be good.

BLOOD MEAL's NPK is 13-1-1 (roughly).

MANURE TEA's are also something others have used as a nitrogen additive to the bales to get the bales "cooking".

UREA is another nitrogen source folks have used in lieu of ammonium nitrate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea

 

Ammonium Nitrate - retail locations where you can buy

I called around and just about anyone affiliated with Southern States has ammonium nitrate.

For you folks in 4042 land here's two confirmed locations:

HUDSON'S HARDWARE
77 Amelia Church Rd
(919) 553-3030
Clayton, NC 27520

HUDSON'S HARDWARE
305 Benson Rd.
(919) 772-4141
Garner, NC 27529

Additional store locators: http://southernstates.findlocation.com/

I get my ammonium nitrate from:

Southern States
324 S Bickett Blvd
Louisburg, NC 27549
(919) 496-2022

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NOTE: some of the places I called said they had ammonium nitrate, when the actually had ammonium sulphate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfate

Ammonium sulphate is high in nitrogen, too. I've just never used it, so I can't speak about it.

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Some sellers have also told me that you can't get ammonium nitrate any longer due to Homeland Security, etc, etc.

This is not true.

That particular retailer just elected not to stock ammonium nitrate for whatever reason.

Keep in mind that you MAY have to show your ID and give the retailer some personal information if you buy ammonium nitrate, but I've found that it varies A LOT between retailers.

One seller said they don't require any sort of ID unless you're getting over 10 bags (50 lbs each). Others may check your ID even with one bag.

Don't sweat it. But if it bothers you, purchase an alternative nitrogen source.

I love the ammonium nitrate, but some of you may lean more towards an ORGANIC approach and use a different nitrogen source to jump start your bales.

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NOTE: as mentioned above, if you want ammonium nitrate you'll have to settle for a 50 lb bag.

The "standard" recipe for treating your STRAW bales call for a total of 2.25 cups of ammonium nitrate PER bale.

With my 68 bales I'm going to need at least 153 cups of ammonium nitrate if I stick with the recipe.

I used to know how many cups there were in a bag, but I can't recall.

So, if you only have a few bales, then a 50 lb bag of anything may be too much. Go in with someone and split the costs.

 

Diary entries from 2006 - Bale prep

Just to give you some idea as what MAY happen when you prep your bales, here's my diary entries from 2006:

Day 1 - 4/20

I put out 60 wheat straw bales last night and watered them down well to start the prep phase.

Day 2 - 4/21

I added my ammonium nitrate (1/2 cup/bale) today around 5 pm. It's now about 8:30 pm and most of the bales have an internal temp between 80* - 85*. The bales seem to be heating up nicely. The outside temp is 72*. I am about 1.5 days ahead of the schedule I followed last year, which called for 3 days of just soaking and on the 4th day start the nitrate.

Today's note: as you can see, nothing is set in stone. I added the nitrate early. Antsy, I guess.

Day 3 - 4/22

2 pm - Nice thunderstorm just went through
0.75" of rain; temp dropped back to 66*; bale temps at 85* - 90*
Applied 1/2 cup/bale of nitrate b4 the storm; rain watered it in nicely
6 pm bale temps - all at least 85*, with most in 90* - 100* range; outside temp 68*
Got another 1" of rain tonight

Day 4 - 4/23

4:00 pm; Bales purring along at 100* - 110*; 79* outside temp; humid and mostly sunny; applied 1/2 cup of nitrate and watered in

Day 5 - 4/24

6:00 pm; added 1/4 cup/bale of nitrate & watered well; bales holding at 100* - 105*

Day 6 - 4/25

6 pm and 83*; bales doing well; most at 110* - 130*; added 1/4 cup of nitrate/bale and watered in

Day 7 - 4/26

Temp cooler - middle 50's; rainy; about 0.6" today & last night
Bales are 100 - 125
I'm foregoing the last application of nitrate and see what the bales do over the next day or so.

Day 8 4/27

Cold rain today; low 50's; about 1" of rain
Checked bales at 6 pm; some bales finally seem to be cooling down to 80 range; the double bales are still cooking; some are still at 120-125
(Double bales are put side by side. Great for growing cukes.)

Day 9 - 4/28

Nice, sunny, partly cloudy day; 70's; planted 24 Better Boys in the line trellis, 8 Parks Whoppers on 1 side of my arch trellis, and all my Pepper plants; I didn't add any fertilizer this time like I did last year. Will get 8 German Johnsons tomorrow, 4 yellow squash and 4 zucchini tomorrow. Cukes go in by Monday.

Looks like I jumped the gun and didn't wait until the 11-day recipe. So feel free to experiment. I now think that the longer you wait, the better the bales get to be a good host for your transplants.

Day 10 - 4/29

Planted 38 hills of Bush Cucumbers in 14 bales, 8 German Johnsons, 4 Mountain Spring tomatoes, 4 yellow straight neck squash, and 4 zucchini
Nice sunny day; mid to high 60's; low 40's sched for tonight

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NOTE: when watering in your nitrogen source, don't drown the bales in torrents of water. Use just enough to wash in the nitrogen.

 

Ammonium Nitrate

For those who may be interested in just what ammonium nitrate looks like, here's the 50 lb. bag I purchased today from Southern States in Louisburg:



Here's what it looks like out of the bag:

 

Wasn't that Timothy McVeigh's favorite material?

 

Let's keep the thread about gardening.

Start a separate thread on this and I'll be glad to weigh in, otherwise, let's stick to bale gardening.

Thanks in advance.

 

No, don't want to dig into it any further, it was more of a caution I wanted to toss out there. 8)

 

Blood Meal - alternate source for nitrogen

Here's what you may see in your local garden centers. Blood Meal is good for the nitrogen boost to help jump start your bales if you don't have that many.

Use about a cup/bale every other day on days 4, 6, and 8.

 

That is exactly what I bought today at Stephen's in Fuquay, for $4.00. I also got 4 of my 8 bales (a minivan won't hold but so many), potting soil, seeds, Miracle Gro. I'm all ready to start!!

 

10-4, sounds like a plan.

What type of seeds did you get?

 

Cukes, squash & okra. I'm going to buy tomato plants when the bales are ready. What kinds of tomatoes do you like best?