From their catalog it looks like the picture below.

{{gwi:287416}}

Just spoke with Valfei on the phone. They told me that they basically start with wheat straw, crush it with some machinery to remove any seeds, then shred it up which removes and remaining seeds.

Sounds like this will be okay for me, and considering my raised beds are small, the fact that its already cut into shorter lengths for me makes it that much less of an effort to apply to my raised beds and containers.

suppose they are trying a bit of a dupe, as most gardeners know straw does not deliver much in nutrients and hay does.

like in our bale garden, we uaed sugar cane mulch which is a green.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens bale garden

It's awesome stuff...never used shredded, but given it's structure it should be good stuff unless it's extremely fine.

It's effect on garden nutrition is rather moot...once degraded (and it should incorporate/degrade faster on soil surface contact thanks to it being shredded) it's effect on soil structure is good, though.

Also, technically straw isn't hay, but if they process it in a way that the seed heads are dead or removed then it acts as hay.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Thu, May 16, 13 at 18:05

The only concern I would have is what the wheat crop was sprayed with by the original producer. If he used Lontrel (read the second last paragraph on page 4), or other broadleaf herbicide that contained clopyralid, I'd walk away from it.

Lloyd

Edited to add...

Nutrient content in 2,200 lbs. of wheat straw: 19 lbs. N, 4.5 lbs. P, 40 lbs. K, 3.3 lbs. S.

This post was edited by pt03 on Thu, May 16, 13 at 20:43

Lloyd,

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Wouldn't the same concern apply to all straw that one is considering for use as mulch on veggies? How can I find out for certain?

On the bale package (which I haven't opened yet) it states that it is used for animal bedding, shrubs, perennials, among other things. No mention of using it as mulch for veggie gardening.

I will wait for more info before I decided to open this bale. There is an animal feed farm near me that sells bales of straw. How would I know if that straw was safe from Lontrel? Can you suggest anything else a feed farm may carry that could be used as a suitable mulch without having to worry about harmful chemicals.

Hay is a legume type grass used for animal feed. Straw is a residue left from reaping various grains. If someone is labeling straw as hay that tells you they either do not know the difference or they are deliberately lieing about their product. That then raise3s more questions about whether it is a good idea to do business with this company.

The only way I can think of is to ask the producer what he sprayed with. We all keep records of what herbicide we used. With a third party like this, probably using straw from different producers, there is no way to know. If a person had time on their side they could run a trial to see if there are any detrimental effects.

Having said all that, the likelihood of this being a problem is extremely small as to be almost insignificant.

Lloyd

Maybe to play it safe I should go with wood chips instead? Not wood mulch, not small or large bark nuggets, just plain old wood chips.

If I call Valfei who knows if they'll be honest.

I think they will be honest and say they don't know.

I give some of my wheat straw away to local gardeners and I assure them that there were none of the long lasting herbicides used on it. I also tell them that there will be some residual wheat kernels in the straw so there will be sprouts. Most aren't aware of the herbicide issue and don't care about the sprouts.

Lloyd

So, natural wood chips I guess then.

probably less chemical spray on what is grown as fodder hay, maybe none at all, that hay once spoilt and no good for fodder purposes makes a good nutritional mulch for the garden.

even better the slashed grass we are raking closely resembles hay has no spray on it at all comes from vacant properties.

surely gardeners in the US must have similar opportunities to rake and gather this sort of grass?

for ornamental gardens natural wood chip bought from blokes who are tree loppers, keep it clear of the stems/trunks by about 4"s it does great.

len

just wondering if left out in rain for say 4 to 6 months ig chems will be gone, bob

Maybe, maybe not, bob. Depends on what was used. Some of the plant poisons are very persistent and stay viable for years even after composting.

kimmq is kimmsr

Says clearly on the blurb on their site that it's "salt marsh hay substitute". Something like sawgrass I expect. Shouldn't have any herbicides or pesticides at least.

I wouldn't spend a lot of money for something like that, but it should be just fine.

The original poster said:

"Just spoke with Valfei on the phone. They told me that they basically start with wheat straw, crush it with some machinery to remove any seeds, then shred it up which removes and remaining seeds."

That was a couple years ago but unless they have changed it, it's wheat straw.

I don't know if the persistent herbicides are actually used on wheat anyway. They are most commonly a problem with manure from animals that ate hay from treated fields. I have no idea about usage on wheat.