straw mulch; I'm usually not compulsive, but....

15 years ago

Once in a while I become obsessed with something, and then I must look and look until I find an answer that I'm happy with.

Here's my quandry. I hate wood mulches and rock mulches and plastic landscape materials of all kinds. I mean I really, really do not like them. I cannot tell you how many times I've been frustrated trying to work up a bed with wood chips in it or rock in it, or plastic sheeting under wood chips or rock. It makes me so frustrated. Plus, It doesn't seem like my plants are very healthy in these environments... too acidic? AND, we definitely are fighting a termite problem.

However, I am a busy person, who doesn't always make it to the garden for weeding when I should. So, I need the functionality of mulching, but I don't like the above options.

A couple of years ago, I found the perfect solution for me; Straw. Not hay (with the weed seeds in it.), but beautiful golden straw. It breaks down just in time. The dirt under it is beautiful, it squelches the weeds, it's easy to haul and handle and lay down, and it seems (?) less acidic than it's wood counterparts. I even grew to love the golden glow of the perennial bed in the side yard. It was my most happy gardening year ever. I'm not exaggerating.

Fast forward to this year. My husband, who has a MUCH more tailored, finished view of what our front yard should look like, wants to redo the beds in front. I am very happy to participate in this, but I know he won't go for the yellow straw look all over the front yard.

The question is, can I dye my straw? I'm seeing some much dyes here:https://www.pinestrawdirect.com/mulch-dye.html, and it looks like they can be used with pine straw.

I am really hoping I can try this on regular straw. I don't like the red mulched look, but a black dye would do the trick I think.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks!

Barb

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Comments (8)

luckygal
15 years ago
I'm not sure how or whether this would work with straw but I use alfalfa tea to "dye" fine wood shavings for mulch. I really dislike the look of wood shavings and they don't weather much. If one thinks of how tenacious grass stains can be it's easy to understand why it may be a good dye. I like the benefits of alfalfa tea and also mix in homemade compost for nutrients which may also help with the color. I spin these ingredients around in the cement mixer to thoroughly mix. It becomes a nice dark brown color and looks great. It decomposes well so needs to be done yearly. I'd like to do this twice a year but so far don't have enough compost.

Wish I could get straw but around here it's as expensive as good quality hay.
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digdirt2
15 years ago
Can you get just plain pine straw (dried pine needles)? Great looking rustic brown au naturel.

Mulch beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. ;) I like the look of plain old golden wheat straw mulch but dyes wouldn't appeal to me at all.

Dave
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floryhawk2
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow Luckygal! That sounds perfect. It's just the kind of thing I was thinking of. I could at least try a batch and see what it looks like. I remember when I was a little girl, my Grandfather made manure tea. He was soo proud of a barrel with a handle that he'd made to turn the tea. I wish I had that contraption now! I had thought of that actually, but I was afraid it would be too wet.

and Dave,
I am agreeing with you about the idea of dyeing not being appealing (and additionally just a lit-tle stupid :)). I really love the look of the gold straw too myself-- and maybe pine straw would be okay. I guess I could try it too, and then if it didn't work, move onto the more drastic notion of coloring yellow straw. I do like the color of the pine straw, but isn't it also really acidic? We have an old stand of pine trees back in the back of our property, and NOTHING grows there. It just seems unhealthy to me somehow....

P.S. I just talked with some fellow gardeners here at my work, and they are rolling their eyes at me for not just going with the regular hard wood mulch! [I'm rolling my eyes at myself a little bit too :).]

Thanks for the input!
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pennymca
15 years ago
If you really don't want to weed, why not do cardboard or newspaper under your favorite golden straw. Top that with a light dressing of pine straw to make it brown?

You're happy, hubby's happy. :-) (-:

Soil and plants are VERY happy!
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floryhawk2
Original Author
15 years ago
Okay. I have three beds out front. All three of these options seem close to perfect. Maybe I will try one solution on each bed. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks!
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pennymca
15 years ago
Barb,

Ding ding ding! The lucky lady has a FREE source of pinestraw! YEA!!!

If you have an "old stand of pine trees", then they're pretty healthy, don't you think? Depending on size, closesness to each other, since they re-seed easily, there's not much sun getting down to the ground for other types of plants. It isn't unhealthy, it is just the ecology of the pine forest.

Penny, who has some pines.
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floryhawk2
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi Penny,

Of course you are right about the light not getting in. Plus I have a big bucket of lime. I'm assuming I could check the pH (with my handy dandy pH checker that has never been out of the box), and add lime and then go gather some pine straw and then use it in the front beds. I'll quit poo-pooing my natural resources :). My husband will be very happy with the idea of NOT spending money on mulch anyway!

I plan on trying the other ideas too for comparison purposes. I received an e-mail response from the pinestraw direct people after asking them if I could use their dye on my regular straw yesterday. They said, "Provided the straw is dry enough to absorb water, this will work fine. If it is fairly fresh and green, it may not be. You might put a little water on it and see what it does. This is a water based dye and will work on just about anything that is porous." I must say that my straw doesn't seem so porous, but I'll try it anyway.

As I get older, it seems like after I work through an question like this, I feel like I knew the answers all along-- I just didn't have them coagulated in the ole' noggin.

Sooo, I really appreciate everybody's input!

Barbara
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
15 years ago
Be SURE to test the soil before applying lime. Some people think that pine straw will 'acidify' the soil, but it doesn't. At least, not appreciably so.
0

straw mulch; I'm usually not compulsive, but....

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