permaculture

[<permed@nor.com.au>]

>I'm looking to do some kind of sheet mulch between the rows in my corn
>patch. I've been using a mix of compost, paper and rice straw on everything
>else, but I read in a companion planting book that wheat straw causes a
>substantially reduced yield in corn. Does anyone have any experience with
>this, and does rice straw have the same effect? 
Don't know about rice straw. 
Many straws like wheat and triticale have hard cellulose structure which 
takes more nitrogen (e.g. from the soil, hence the plants they're 
mulching) to break down than finer straws and mulches. Partially 
pre-composting hard straw with manures (or liquid manure)  will reduce 
this problem.
 
Robyn