Hay Bale Growing

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Westi
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Last months mag had a great feature on this that piqued my interest! Seen it before on some sites but not in the detail. This article actually brought the compost & prep in the mix, not just shove a plant in that made me diss this previously. Anyone doing this? Got a couple of bales, but article showed this inside not out. I know it will cool down quicker outside but that's the space I have so want to time planting correctly.

I would dearly like to release the courgette bed for planting the 'Cat Mix' of brassica's seedlings - just to see, as some survived the knock off the window sill & tramping on by the dog & not leggy - but not a clue if cauli's or cabbage! (I re-sowed as thought they were goners & they will go in designated bed)! Prep is 2 weeks + so when is the right time for me to put the bales out & to sow the courgettes to match the readiness of the outside bales? Have a rat problem who will find it interesting but got some lion poo fertiliser - just "N" so matches the prep!
Westi
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I tried growing spuds under straw bales a couple of autumns ago I planted the spuds around 6 inches deep then covered with straw bales not one showed I put it down to something that had been sprayed on the straw before harvesting
Westi
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I have barley non sprayed hay bales. I am using the whole bale maybe still tied into shape if loose enough for planting through the top with courgettes on one (undecided on 2nd), but also planning to grow trailing flowers along the sides. Just confused with the cool down period difference inside v's out, but have decided when it is not steaming I will check the temp even though my soil thermometer won't reach too deep I will get a bit of an idea! Thinking I will keep them in the tunnel (great coffee table & seat as came wrapped in cardboard), until mid April then prep the bales, but will also sow the courgettes around the same time.
Westi
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oldherbaceous
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Westi, Hay bales are dried grass...Barley and Wheat are straw bales...i'm not being picky, honest.... :)

I can't help you with your original question i'm afraid, as I have never tried this method.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Westi
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I know OH but everyone can envisage a 'hay' bale so taking liberties. They don't recommend hay bales as likely to have seeds & weeds! :)
Westi
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Bump.
Hi Westi, did you do anything with your straw bales? I'm hoping to get my hands on some today and tomorrow and I'm very happy to plagiarise and follow where others lead! Any hints or tips?
Westi
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I just followed the article (almost) with the high nitrogen feed at first & the wetting in between. I'm still at this stage & mine are outside, but roped 'Mr' into doing the boy thing for even more Nitrogen! (Work commitments mean I have to miss the full prep day wise). Then I will change to the more general purpose fertiliser & monitor the temp! Mine are outside by necessity but thinking if I can make it work here I could get even better results inside the greenhouse at home next year! This outside experiment will be for courgettes as they are pretty tough & planting the sides with trailing lobelia to make it look pretty!

Have you got the article? Happy to photocopy & send it to you! Will be a few days though as it's on the shed wall at lottie & a BH weekend & haven't a clue how to send without the clever admin at work helping, but I'm sure our clever friends on here have kept copies & could send as well!
Westi
vivienz
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Thanks for the offer, Westi, but I do have the article. I was keen to find out if anyone here was ahead of me in real life. I have some chicken manure pellets on the way that should do for the high nitrogen, but I may well start off some nettle tea as they're rampaging back to life after the winter and I have plenty of them.
My young courgette plants are looking bright eyed and bushy tailed, so to speak, with their second set of true leaves coming on and teensy little male flowers forming. These are destined for the straw bales and, from the looks of it, fairly soon.
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Do keep us up to date with your progress Westi. The different methods we employ are fascinating
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
Westi
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Where are you growing your's vivienz? In or Out? This article came out after I had done the planting plan for the year, which is why it is outside but keeping my fingers crossed for a hot summer & some compost goes into the hole anyway & I'm a bit further South! The question probably should be - can I see it through or are others stupidity going to limit my access to allotment? In the meantime I now have 6 days off so can finish Stage 1 prep & move on.
Westi
vivienz
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Mine are destined for an unheated greenhouse, Westi. The wind is sufficiently strong for so much of the time here that the bales would all be blown away by June. Added to which, we don't have any plantable (is that a word?) borders in the greenhouses due to the clay and some rubble underneath, so in the absence of topsoil being available at the moment, the hay bales seem to make perfect sense.
I'm very lucky in that the kitchen garden and greenhouses are on our own site here, next to the house, so we don't have access issues. It's more a question of trying to get everything up ahead of the plants needing to go out. Hubby has been doing a splendid job on the greenhouse today, whilst I pricked out and potted on 30+ tomato plants. It turns out that the spare room that faces south east is just the spot for all these tender seedlings!
Westi
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I shoved the thermometer into he bale today to get a base reading & a long way to go! 18.5C is not gonna cut the mustard, but have the Mr on board to increase the nitrogen. ;)
Westi
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Bump.
I started my straw bale conditioning this evening, with lots of watering and then a heavy addition of miracle grow. It's a high useage on the fertilizer, though, so I may swap to chicken manure pellets for the next feed as I have plenty of those and they're much cheaper. I might even see if I can scrounge some fresh chicken poo off a neighbour who keeps chickens.

How's the temperature of yours, Westi? I'm hoping that mine will get going in a few days. They're in the second greenhouse and I'm hoping that I will be able to temporarily house my tender little toms, aubergines and cucumbers in there (still in pots) as we're due a 3C and 2C overnight temps at the weekend and I fear for the wellbeing of the plants. If the bales are chucking off enough heat overnight, it should give the plants a cosy home.
Westi
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Mine was at temp so I pulled out the straw to make the compost hollow & filled it. It has sunk down into the straw & almost disappeared with the rain & temp dropped as outside! Luckily weather not looking good next week so not planted the courgette plants into it, so will top it up again! They will have a root run at least through soil so maybe? Gonna hedge my bets & direct sow as a back up - neighbours will tolerate the overload or pass on to their friends if successful! I'm 50/50 at the moment for this, but enjoying watching the birds go down & take a wee bit of straw for their nests.
Westi
vivienz
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Thanks for the update, Westi. I bought some garotta today to speed along the composting process of the bales rather than using miracle gro, as the latter is quite expensive. However, I'm not sure that I would be able to plant straight into the bales then, as the garotta might rot the plants, too. I've never used garotta before. Does anyone have any views on my dilemma? I'm due to give the bales their second 'feed' treatment tonight.

I should add that the other thing that has stopped me using the garotta is the chemical composition. I had a look at the data sheet for it and it's high in lime and silicate, as far as I can tell, so not a source of nitrogen, either.

Edit: just found more info and it does, in fact, contain ammonium sulphate, so plenty of nitrogen. I'm tempted to give it a go.
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