Straw hay as mulch?

[ninnymary]

Last year I purchased a bale of "hay straw" for using in one nest box. Well, I soon learned that is way too much for my needs. The feed store had several types of hay but that is what they recommended and called it. I have noticed that the chickens like to peck at it while in the nest box and assume it must have some type of seed in it.

Since I have so much of it, can I use it as mulch? I like the fact that I can push it aside when I do my next round of lettuce planting. I've thought of using this fine bark mulch from Home Depot because it would give my garden a nice "professional" finish but then I worry that it will get mixed in the soil when I do my second planting.

Any thoughts?

Mary

Sorry, they didn't call it hay straw, they called it RICE STRAW. (I am such a dummy.:/)

 

[boggybranch]

If you mulch thick enough, you prob wouldn't have any trouble with any seeds sprouting out of it. I've found that to be true......but I mulch 8-10 inches deep, too. And if any seeds were to sprout, I just put more mulch on top of them (Ms. Ruth Stout's method)

 

[Mattemma]

One of my garden books has a photo of a perm. straw garden bed.Just push the straw aside and plant.Cover back up at the end of growing season. I mix my straw with paper,leaves,and grass clippings.

I did read it was good to put around strawberry plants!

 

[digitS']

There once was a good deal of bluegrass grown around here.

When I was a young gardener, I once picked up a bale of the staw that had come off a field after the combine had been thru. I had one end of my garden that I'd covered with rain-spoiled alfalfa and had run out of that hay.

I broke open that bale of bluegrass straw and laid it down. You'd have thought that I was trying to plant a lawn!! I had so many grass seedlings the next year - throughout the mulch, in the ground, and scattered about around that corner!
If it is straw from grass grown for seed, I bet there are lots of seed still in it.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use wheat straw as well as many other things as mulch. The wheat straw I get does have seeds in it and they will sprout. I have been known to spread it out, make sure it gets wet so the seeds will sprout, than rake it up a couple of weeks later. That helps, especially if it is dry when you rake it up. That threshes out even more of the seeds.

This method depends on your set-up and conditions, but I also put it in the chicken run. You don't have to spread out much. They will take care of that. They will pick out a lot of the seeds and really stir it up, giving it a good threshing. I then rake it up and store it in piles until it rains a couple of times. That rinses off any chicken poop that might burn my delicate plants. If it is dry when you rake it up, you don't get much poop anyway.

These methods do not get rid of all the seeds, but they help a lot. And even when the seeds sprout in the garden, they are usually not that hard to pull out if you get them fairly early.

Good luck!!!

 

[DawnSuiter]

I use USED straw & wood chips as mulch here because it's handy for the same reasons and I think they perform beautifully!

If your in doubt...scatter some and let the chickens pick through it for a couple days and then move it over as mulch.

 

[journey11]

I use wheat straw to mulch my tomatoes (over a top dressing of compost). Not so much because it retains moisture--it does, although not as well as other mulches. I like it because when it rains, the rain passes straight through with no splashing back up onto the lower leaves of the plant, preventing blight. I never have any problem with seeds sprouting out of that. I know there are generally a few in there, because when I use it in my coop, the chickens vigorously search for what they can find. But they go to a whole lot of effort and make a whole lot of mess over a whole lot of nothing anyway. If you want, you could let the chickens clean it out for you ahead of time (wouldn't take more than a couple days), then use it for mulch. No worries!

 

[ducks4you]

They didn't know what to call it. "Hay" is dried grass. The stems are solid, or resemble your cut grass when it dries out. "Straw" is a HOLLOW stem. It is harvested AFTER the seed of wheat or oats (and, I think, barley--could be wrong on barley). It is most often used for animal bedding because it does absorb some liquid and keep animals protected from stall surfaces plus it radiates back heat to the animal. People used to stuff their mattresses with straw. Some old time horse owners used to winter their horses on oat straw, instead of grass, according to a U of I Vet that a spoke to. Often, today, of course we see straw put down to prevent birds from eating grass seed and to protect a new lawn. (I REALLY wish that they would purchase wet and ruined straw for this, and leave the clean dry stuff for the livestock owners to buy!! Ahhh, if it was a perfect world....**sigh**) I like to grab soiled straw that's been rained on and dried out to put over direct sowing.

 

[ninnymary]

So you guys.....The feed store told me that this "Rice Straw" was softer than the other type of hay/straw. I'm just concerned if it has seeds that they will sprout. It sounds like sprouting is a pain in the neck.

I can't really tell you much more about it. They all look the same to me.! :/

Mary

 

[bid]

Check out this link Mary.

http://groups.ucanr.org/sonomamg/Mulch_A-Z/Types_of_Mulch.htm

Sounds like you have got the mulch for your garden bed to me!