Straw Bale Gardening-Conditioning the Bales- Days 7-11

[@FamishedFarm]

I loved the idea to anchor the tomato cages with the wood headers....saw that on one of your videos. Thank you

[@jo-ellen3919]

SOME FOLKS WARN US TO LET BALES KOOL INSIDE A WEEK OR SO...AS TO LET TEMPERATURE DROP AS TOO HOT WOULD KILL YOUNG PLANTS??? WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN IF ANY WITH TOO HOT HEAT??? THANKS, YOUR EXPLANATION IS WONDERFUL ❤

[@jhutto3814]

GM Tracy, I'm having trouble getting the temperature down on my bales. Must be doing something wrong. Only thing I can think of is I got busy and stopped watering them every day after 10 days. Am I supposed to keep that up, and how long? I'm sure I am, Duh!!! I've been composting longer than that! The temp stays around 110 to 116 0r 18, even up to 120 here and there. I'm at probably approaching 3 weeks now. Got busy with a wedding somewhere in there, lol. Mushrooms have been growing at least 10 days and when I cut into some of them to see if I could plant, they don't really look very composted yet. Fact, I had to use a reciprocal saw to get a hole going. I wanted to dig a furrow all along the top so I could lay a couple of tomato plants down to root the longer stems. Thanks.

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

GM. Are you 3 weeks out from finishing the conditioning of the bales or three weeks including the conditioning? Your bale temp should go down on its own. One year it took about a week after day 11 for me to plant in the bales due to temp. Mine were running around 120 as well. You can start seedlings on the bales at anytime heat won’t hurt them. It will actually help. You do not have to continue to water after conditioning is complete unless they are dried out. It’s great that the mushrooms are growing means it’s working for sure. Also you will not be able to look at inside of bale and see the composting. It will look the same just maybe specks of black here and there. I have never thought of channeling to lay the tomatoes. Great idea let me know how that works.

[@jhutto3814]

@@gardeningwithtracy2326 Yeah, some of my tomatoes are way over due to be in the ground, so the stems are really long, but all the rain we were getting, kept my compost garden so wet, I couldn't till it, and had to wait to get the tilling done to start the bales, because they are around two sides of the garden. Made me really late. At least I had everything going under lights in the house, so I have a month head start there. We put all the little plugs out Sat. and Sun. so at least I'm not REALLY that late. Just the sweet potatoes and tomatoes. The bales are for them. I guess actually my temp is not too bad then. I'm just now at 3 weeks since I started them. I was under the impression the temp would lower under 100 at 2 weeks. Thanks for responding so quickly. I can rest now then.

[@jhutto3814]

Well, I had planted one tomato that I was going to get rid of anyway the night before I contacted you, sort of as a guinea pig. I went out yesterday morning. Dead. The heat ate it off at ground level in 2 days. I checked a few bales, and the temp was still 115 or above. Just letting you know that did not work. Lord, I'd hate for you to tell any of your people to go ahead and plant, and they put everything in and lost it all. I'd kill myself if that happened to me, lol. I guess I just have to be patient. Not an easy thing for me. I am not a patient person. Normally, everything would have happened differently if I had my garden ready like every other year, but I hadn't put one in in several years because of my back, so It was a mess when I went out to start. I'd been burning there for a awhile and it took some cleaning up. And then the rain started. I was mad at myself for burning all that straw out of my stalls too instead of tilling it in and taking advantage of it.

[@jhutto3814]

Finally yesterday I checked temps again, and they are mostly all down to 100, and I'm close to ready to plant. I'm thinking it was a Tuesday when I started them, so that would have made last Monday the end of the third week since I started them. I do live in Florida ya know. Temps here have been in the 80's quite a bit already. Not sure if that has been part of the delay or not, but it's close now. Thanks for the help.

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

@@jhutto3814 that’s great. I was going to ask where you were located. That could very well be what happened. One thing you could do is start the conditioning earlier. I start mine around beginning of March. This way they have plenty of time for temp to come down and it doesn’t hurt them to sit there for a bit before planting. Glad they have come down. Happy Gardening.

[@jamjar5716]

When I first looked up staw bale gardening 2 years ago, actual urine was used. Even though you end up with the same odor, I think I like this method better!

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

Yes the urea definitely gives u that strong ammonia odor. This is a pretty simple method.

[@FloorsbySouthernboys]

Nice job

[@samdickerson718]

What kind of straw bales do you use and where do you get them? The local Lowe’s has wheat straw bales. Will that work?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

I have gotten mine from my local farmers coop in the past and I do believe they were wheat as well. So yes that will be fine. Happy gardening.

[@CBsGreenhouseandGarden]

Looking forward to seeing your bales get their grow on this year! Happy Easter!

[@andyanderson265]

This is great, have you noticed that you need to start with established plants or can you use seed?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

I have done both. If and when using seeds always put a layer of potting mix on top of the bale to sow seeds in. I have had success with both methods. I have to say it’s easier with established plants though. Happy gardening.

[@tommyglatz698]

The only problem I had with SBG was the collapse of the bails mid to late summer just at peak fruiting. Any thoughts on that?

[@delphine88313]

Some one said you can put Cinder blocks to hold them in place.From what I'm looking at on KZbin ( i want to try this way this summer) if its heavy crops( tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini etc) you need to trellis or make a strong frame for them to run up on.Im new to this so if its not the right answer maybe someone else will know.lol

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

You could try some type of framing around the bales. I have implemented some framing on one of my rows to try to use the bales in that row two years. My bales do tend to start breaking down closer to the end of the season but this doesn’t pose a problem with the plants. Delphine is right wires are very helpful when this starts happening as well. I also use homemade tomato cages for support. Please let me know what u decide. I am always looking for great ideas.

[@smhollanshead]

Place stakes next to the bales and wrap the bales in chicken wire. This structure will keep the bales intact.

[@burdyscrawford3821]

dear Tracy, i did straw bales several years back, but hadn't done my homework & didn't condition the bales. i couldn't even get a hatchet to penetrated them! lol so i dumped garden soil in b/tween them & planted in that. the next few years they composted & worked great. i'm starting fresh this year & purchased "bale buster" to condition them. is it ok to condition the bales with out planting as soon as they're ready can i wait till warmer weather, even if the bales are ready? or is it important to plant as soon as the bales are conditioned? thanks!!

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

That’s great. I used bale buster last year and it is a great product. No you do not have to plant immediately. My bales have been ready for about 3 weeks but I too are waiting a little later this year. Happy gardening.

[@trevapotter9239]

Nice 👍🏻 can’t wait to see the growth

[@saltlifegull4091]

Thanks Tracy - please let me know about hay vs. straw. I can't find straw but bought bales of hay from Tractor Supply. Will this work the same? Where the heck do people find bales of straw to buy?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

You can condition the hay bales and they will work same as straw. The reason straw is recommended is it will produce less weeds to have to pull. I located my straw bales from a local farmer and our farmers coop sella them as well. You can still use hay u just may have more weeds but they are easy to pull out. Let me know how it goes.

[@marlairons1205]

This is my first year doing straw bales. So the Urea fertilizer is only 1/2 cup every other day (days1,3,5), then days 7,8,9 do 1/4 cup of the Urea? Also, may I ask how much Urea do you need to buy? I have 17 bales. I see you have 20 so I figured you would know an approximate amount needed. I wish I could condition then organically but cannot see spending that kind of money to condition each bale.

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

So glad you decided to try straw bale gardening. You will love it. I Absolutely agree on the organically. Would love to do that as well. I have to purchase a 50 lb bag. That is all the farmers coop carries. I only use about 1/4 of it so around 15 lbs should be good for you. I just put my leftover in 5 gallon bucket and use for a few years.

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

Also correct on urea amounts. Don’t forget the 1 cup of 10 10 10 fertilizer or equivalent on day 10. So happy to have you and happy gardening.

[@marlairons1205]

@@gardeningwithtracy2326 Thank you for the reminder. I do have one more question. What type of fertilizer do we need to feed the transplants. The same 10-10-10 or a more specific fertilizer? And how often should we feed them once everything is planted?

[@marlairons1205]

@@gardeningwithtracy2326 Thank you! I was worried I’d need 50 lbs or more.

[@marleneycampos]

Hi Tracy! Im a new subscriber to your channel and love the idea of using bales. I plan on doing this method but I have a few issues and wanted to see what you suggest. My father owns a ranch an hour away from where I currently live and I’ve converted an area to a vegetable garden area. I usually go there on the weekends and spend the night over there on the weekend. Is there any easy way of doing this method but not physically being there? I can possibly do 3-4 days of this but wouldn’t be able to do 5-11 until the next weekend if that makes sense since I don’t live there. Would the process be ruined/not work if there’s a few days gap between? I really love this idea and want to really do this! Your response is super appreciated! Thanks I’m advance!

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

You can definitely do this. You would just need to continue where you left off. The bales may take a little longer to heat up and start the decomposing process but it will still work. Sometimes when we start conditioning our bales, something will happen with the weather that prevents us from keeping the schedule. One way to speed up the process is to drape plastic over the bales and it will create a greenhouse effect and get those bales cooking. Please let me know how it turns out. I love to hear about everyone's progress. If you have any more questions don't hesitate. Happy Gardening.

[@jcking6785]

Aren’t the bales supposed to be cut side up?

[@gardeningwithtracy2326]

J C King they are. For some reason my supplier cut the bales on the side for the last two years. Last year they were cut this way and it worked out just fine. I just had to poke the bales and get the fertilizer down into bales. I am going to keep trying to locate a supplier that has the bales cut on top side because it is a little mor work getting the fertilizer down into bail.