Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: Help with irrigation and mulch

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Sojourner <sojournr AT missouri.org>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Help with irrigation and mulch
  • Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 09:00:02 -0600


Lucy Goodman-Owsley wrote:
>
> Don't use hay for mulch unless you want weeds as hay is just a mix of
> grasses and legumes generally most with seed heads arttatched. Straw should
> have few to no seedheads as it has been threshed before bailing.

Oat straw is full of seeds, I don't know why, I guess the threshing is
more difficult than for wheat or rice. Not that that should be a
problem if you use enough mulch.

I've never had a problem using hay for mulch either (see below). YMMV

> if the
> field had a weed problem than you could have weeds but than again you can
> break bales open before buying to see if they contain weeds-not all the
> bales but a few samples. This is good if you are buying hay to see if there
> is any mold buried in the bales.

Mold in hay used for mulch should make no difference whatsoever (unless
you're allergic to molds). The best garden I ever had was mulched in
moldy hay thrown out by the horse stable nearby. No weed problem,
either. On the other hand, if you're paying for it, moldy hay should
certainly COST less.

I've used both straw and hay for deep mulching (not a little thin layer)
and it quite thoroughly smothers out the vast majority of weeds. What
little might manage to get a start is easily uprooted - if the mulch is
laid on there thick enough. Deep mulching doesn't lend itself to
mechanical means of weed control, unless someone out there smarter than
me has come up with a means to do it (which is entirely likely - there
being someone smarter than me out there I mean <VBG>). But a weed whip
will surely take care of whatever few weeds manage to root into the
mulch quickly and easily even on a larger area than the 50x50 garden I
had.

--
Holly ;-D
Contrary Peasant
sojournr AT missouri.org




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page