Found an interesting article the other day and thought I would share. Also, if anyone has tried this, please chime in!
Link below
Benefits of bales
-The ability to place an instant garden wherever the sun shines
-A way to avoid poorly draining, hard-to-work or diseased soil
-A far less laborious gardening experience, eliminating digging and weeding
Think of the straw bale as a large container with a volume of 40 gallons. Unlike a planter filled with potting soil, the bale begins life as an essentially sterile medium. By season’s end, it is transformed into a partially composted mass of organic matter that’s teeming with life. After the crops are harvested, the material makes a perfect top-dressing to garden beds or a valuable addition to the compost pile.
How to prepare the bales
Before you can plant in the bales, they need some special preparation, so buy the bales at least two weeks before you want to plant. Place the bales where you want to grow; once they are prepared, they will be too heavy to move.
The first week
Water the bale thoroughly, until water runs out the bottom of the bale. Sprinkle the surface with a nitrogen source (see box), applying at the recommended rate.
Every other day, add more of the nitrogen source; water thoroughly. Do it a total of three times during the first week.
On the days you don’t apply nitrogen, just water the bales thoroughly.
The second week
For the next three days, apply the nitrogen source daily at half the original rate. Follow up with thorough watering.
After three days of adding nitrogen, water daily.
At the end of the week, sprinkle each bale with 2 cups of balanced fertilizer, such as organic 5-5-5. Water thoroughly.
Why so much nitrogen? It jump-starts the composting process and creates an ideal environment for plant roots. Over the course of the two weeks, the bales heat up considerably and can reach temperatures of 125 degrees F or more.
After the two weeks of treatment, the bales are ready for planting. The internal temperature should be about 75 to 80 degrees F, which you can verify with a compost thermometer. Probe from side of the bale, about halfway down. Low-tech option: Use your finger. The interior should feel warm, but not hot. If the bale still feels too hot, wait another couple days and check again.
Cheaper than soil! Will be buying a few of these this week. Nice spring project!..just gotta get through the hellish winter.
Have some of this from last outdoor auto run.
Disney has a whole section dedicated to suburban/ terrace farming at one of their parks. Hay bale is a method they push… even growing multiple different vegetables in the same bale on different sides. Cool to see this catching on. Thought about picking up a couple small bales I saw for sale at the store walking in. However by the time I made it to the register, yeah I forgot
You need to be careful that the straw wasn’t grown with weed killers. I’ve seen people fo this and right after things stay growing, they die from residual herbicides.
What I’d like to do is crater a small area out of the bale and put a small amount of super soil mix in their with all the cover crops, worms and such in there and such… shit what sounds fun is having a straw bale grow off Competition like the solo cup one we have here! What ya think? I’d be down with it!
IMO the bale would act like smart pots in the way that they would air prune themselves they would be free draining and have the ability to hold decent amount moisture straw bales standard size go for about 5-6$ around my area (farmer prices) probably will pay more at ranch and feed stores or other greenhouses or big box stores
I’ve known about this type of gardening for several years now but just never took the leap of faith in this type of gardening haven’t seen it done in person but seems it’s quite doable IMO
Like I said Disney has a huge display of this type of growing. It’s the only part of Disney that keeps me sane after chasing kiddos all day. Interestingly enough, also the place in the park where you see the most wildlife (other than pigeons and seagulls)
Id definitely run a hay bale. As far as a comp goes, outdoor summers are pure misery for me, so I’ll get one going shortly while temps stay between 70-85 and have a humidity break
Well I’m gonna give it a try come spring. Will keep a journal, so everyone can follow along with my fuhkery.
I totally agree with you, that it’s just like a big smart pot. I have a feeling it’ll be a pretty effective grow style.
You see the guys growing trees in these massive beds…wouldn’t it be easier to just slap down a large hay bale and fire away…
Don’t know where your at or if you’re grabbing a fresh bale. My queation would be why? I asked myself why not. There’s dirt underneath. The rain is gone make them soggy as shit. Which is why they get piled in the barn. The temps were so high this summer you might have pulled an auto off. April til Oct the plant is gonna pick that bale of hey and smack you with it. Stack the bales so the roots don’t hit dirt.
Shoot me a link when this happens. There’s good stuff all around you. I started compost in a new trash can. It’s been so hot you’d be surprised how fast it turns. Compost the hey. Heey! Sounds like a debacle. Lol. I love it. Do a side by side flat hey vs wheat straw vs pine straw while your at it. Pine is probably to acidic on the breakdown.
Good luck. To boldly go where no pot head has before. Ive seen shrooms growing in hey. I guess a substrate is exactly that. I’m wondering if letting them decompose a bit would help??
Basically an all in 1 ‘disposable’ pot/soil set up. After breakdown theoretically should feed local soil also. Personally, my ‘native soil’ is sand and salt. Sure tomatoes and melons grow like weeds, but other plants struggle without fertilizers
After reading over it it’s cool. If you’re in area where you can have plants in bales. It’s like anything else he tells you prep it let it sit. It’s cool basing out in leaves which I have tons and tons of. IF I had the space and no neighbors I’d try it.
Unfortunately being in a homes inc we cant line anything with anything. Hedges are cut low. When open site grows are allowed the back of the yard where the water runs off would be nice. Wouldn’t have to hardly water it. It’d be close to hydro. Could literally stack the bales in a race course way to funnel the water. Slick. I digress.
You got me. I completely get it. The goal is growing. The no til is appealing to me because I tend to be a lazy stoner. This is right up my alley. The friggin pipe heads steal everything. Man if you have the space. That’s pretty cool.
What do think makes people act like that. Fear of the unknown? One track mind. I appreciate the link. I imagine the breakdown over a period of time would make some fire compost. I appreciate that.
Sebring was touching on that. Lining your pathways with sawdust, leaves. It breaks down as well making a nice environment for everything. It should appeal it’s simplistic and effective.
Ive seen shrooms growing in hey. I guess a substrate is exactly that. I’m wondering if letting them decompose a bit would help??
