Jim Dello

Ok, so to summarise:

- The vast majority of straw/hay will have been sprayed at some point in its life.
- The damage to crops that you plant into beds that you have mulched will vary greatly depending on the type of chemical used in the herbicide.
- The worst offenders are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid.
- Certain gardeners report no problems once the straw has been left to rot for a year.
- Leaving the straw to rot and stimulating the process by wetting bales can stimulate growth of bacteria and funghi that can help with processing any traces of less harmful chemicals (e.g. Harmony, 2.,4-D).
- You must ensure that the person who supplies you with the straw/hay knows exactly what type of chemicals have been used.

Ok, so I need to find out exactly what herbicide was used as I might get away with composting it in a separate pile for a few months, after which I'll do a test. I was told "something similar to Nimble", but I'm still waiting on more information.

I did use straw from the same supplier last year and didn't notice any particular growth deficiencies. Perhaps the effects could be delayed as the straw breaks down and becomes humous?

Thanks for your replies.

Hello all,

Just discovered that the straw I've recovered to use as a mulch had been sprayed with 'Nimble', which is used as a herbicide to kill young weeds in wheat fields. It doesn't affect Mmnocotyledons, but can affect dicotyledons.

Apparently you can plant any crop on the area it has been used after one year.

Is this something I should be worried about? I need the straw to limit watering and protect the soil over the winter, but it's rather frustrating to find that herbicides have been used, and worrying to think that it could stunt the growth of vegetables grown on those plots.

Cheers,

JD

Thanks Aaron.

We've got a patch dedicated to comfrey for making teas and having an extra a bit of mulch. It's not subtstantial enough to produce lots of biomass but it helps nonetheless.

I think I'll try planting more densely this year and I'll check out Alfalfa, too.

Hello all,

I'm a Brit living in France and am part of a large permaculture community garden. We have a decent surface area, though not enough mulch is produced onsite so we occasionally buy in the odd bail of straw, or the city council leaves us the odd pile of wood chips. The problem is that it's never enough to cover all the plots, so I've been looking at other solutions and have started to experiment with green manures as a potential solution. I've watched lots of videos on youtube and recently invested in a book dedicated to explaining the practice, but I wanted to see if some members of the community had first hand experience using them to produce a decent quantity of mulch for the garden.

I've planted rye and mustard so far. The mustard planted in August grew really well and has just taken a hit with the frost but it looks like it will provide a decent blanket for the soil over the winter. The rye is only about 10 cm max for the moment, I think I should have planted earlier in the season to produce a better amount of biomass. I planted it at the end of September/early October. I don't intend to work the green manures into the soil.

What's your advice on the type of green manure to use for producing lots of external biomass?

I've also read about the possibility of keeping a permanent layer of 'living mulch' in the form of green manures and planting in to them. In theory this would eliminate or reduce the need to mulch with externally brought in material and provide good soil structure and permanent ground cover. The idea would be to 'chop and drop' every so often to give light to the crops planted and reduce competition for nutrients. Potential problems that spring to mind are slugs and difficulty sowing seed directly.

Has anyone had any experience with planting in plots where green manures are established and used as a living mulch?

Cheers,

Jimbo