Quick question about mulch

Greenthumbs256

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
OK guys I really wanted to mulch with barley straw but would have taken weeks to get here I found some wheat straw for like 7 bucks at the local lowes. My question is will this be OK I have no idea how organic or anything other than it was sold in bales on the back of a 18 wheeler truck! I'm kinda worried it could have been sprayed with something or may even carry some type of bugs or something! I'm living organics some no till and some I reuse and really amend my soil!
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
I liked using straw mulch but I was getting the straw directly from the farm, if you're not doing that it can be really hard to know if it was sprayed or not. Most people in the chain of distribution are gonna have no fucking clue or just lie to you and say it's fine. I grow no til and liked straw mulch but it also kept the surface soil to moist sometimes and encouraged fungus gnats to come around. I have two feet deep soil beds so i don't really need to keep the surface moist, and growing indoors with a full canopy I don't know that I needed the mulch to keep my root zone cool like I would when growing outside.
 
Greenthumbs256

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
I liked using straw mulch but I was getting the straw directly from the farm, if you're not doing that it can be really hard to know if it was sprayed or not. Most people in the chain of distribution are gonna have no fucking clue or just lie to you and say it's fine. I grow no til and liked straw mulch but it also kept the surface soil to moist sometimes and encouraged fungus gnats to come around. I have two feet deep soil beds so i don't really need to keep the surface moist, and growing indoors with a full canopy I don't know that I needed the mulch to keep my root zone cool like I would when growing outside.
Click to expand...
What would u say about adding some diatomaceous earth as a top dress just as a precaution?
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
i think the answer here is simple. if you're not comfortable with it, don't use it. you can find organic straw. hell i use pumice for a mulch in everything but my notills. anything to keep the soil surface from evaporating too much water. rice hulls work great for mulch. cannabis plant scraps: leaves, chopped up stalks. brown leaves from your leaf compost. There are so many possibilities!
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
I've used the straw from Lowes for years on my raised bed gardens with no problems.

For outdoor containers/no tills I use pine bark mulch or perlite and sometimes a blend of the two.

Like RR, I use no mulch at all indoors. Seems to creat more problems than it solves.

Try different stuff and see what works best for you.

Cheers
Wet
 
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