Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

When someone asked about "hay" as mulch I took that to mean grasses that
were mown and dried, intended for animal feed, or dried mowings from
fields.  This is very different from "straw."  Straw is the part of a
grain plant left after harvesting the seed heads.

It's important to differentiate these because chemical grain growers
have started using strong herbicides a week or so before harvest.  Some
apply herbicide to kill any weeds in their grain fields so theses seeds
won't be mixed with the grains, resulting in a lower price.

A friend in North Georgia (certified organic) used some wheat straw from
a nearby farm in his compost piles.  He spread the year old compost on
vegetable beds and used the straw that didn't break down on the outside
of the pile for mulch on one bed of peppers and one bed of tomatoes.
These two beds of plants were stunted and looked diseased.  GA Extension
took samples and concluded that the problem was herbicide damage.

He found out later that the wheat farmer had used an herbicide (can't
remember the name) pre-harvest.  The herbicide in the uncomposted straw
was still potent enough a year later to affect his plants.  (The beds
where he put the compost did fine.)

Moral of the story- know your source.  Use hay from fields where no
herbicide has been used or know the history of the straw.  I advised
this farmer to use his own hay for composting and mulching.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm



Gary & Sarah Rowland wrote:

> Assuming the hay is herbicide free it will work great as a mulch.
> Have some friends who use it all the time.First year we were in this
> business we had some hay lying around that we put round some of our
> fall tomatoes.  Worked great until it rained and the herbicide leached
> into the ground, all the tomatoes with the hay wilted and had signs of
> herbicide damage the others didn't.  As herbicide free hay is almost
> nonexistant around here we haven't used it since.