How do you prep straw bales for gardening?
Day 1-3: Soak bales thoroughly and keep them damp. Day 4-6: Sprinkle each bale with ½ cup urea (46-0-0) and water well into bales. You can substitute bone meal, fish meal, or compost for a more organic approach. Days 7-9: Cut back to 1/4 cup of fertilizer per bale per day, and continue to water it in well. Complete fertilizers, such as 8-8-8 or 10-10-10, is an option for maintaining plant health. Evenly apply ½ to 1 cup of fertilizer per bale each month and water in adequately. Liquid fertilizers may be added to the passive recycled watering bottle system for dispensing.
What is the best fertilizer for straw bale gardens?
Use a ½ cup of a complete garden fertilizer or three cups of an organic fertilizer like Milorganite®. Then completely moisten the bale. The organic fertilizer feeds the microorganisms that help decompose the straw into a nutrient rich planting medium. Thoroughly moisten the bale. Affordable & Readily Available – Straw is often more affordable than hay and is easy to find in bulk.Hay holds nutritional value and is used as feed for cattle, horses and other farm animals, while straw is a by-product of hay that is composed of dried grain stalks and may be used for non-food purposes.Wheat straw is commonly used for straw bale gardening, but other types of straw such as barley or oat straw can also work well. Hay is a grass rather than a cereal grain and can cause weed problems. Hay is not a good choice for bale gardening.
Can you overwater a straw bale garden?
Don’t Overwater “In the straw bale, the water runs down through the bales,” he said. If you overwater, what that’ll do is it leaches through the bale and it’ll carry with it any soluble nutrients. Karsten recommends 1 gallon of water for each bale. Covering Hay Bales Bales stored outside can be covered with tarps or strong plastic covers to minimize moisture damage from rain, humidity, and melt from snow.Moisture can lead the bales to decay, mold, and even collapse, creating a potentially dangerous situation. If you live in a wet climate, protecting your straw bale home from the elements is particularly daunting. While a high stem wall, long overhanging eaves, and plaster can help, these precautions can fail.