Straw Vs Hay For Garden Mulch & Compost. What Is the Difference? Why Is One Potentially Harmful!
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
- Have you ever wondered what the difference between straw and hay mulch is? The differences are drastically different from price to product performance. For most gardeners we want to aim for a straw mulch. This will not have persistent pesticides and can be used as a carbon source the following year for our compost.
Mulch in the form of hay however can be detrimental. This is especially true if pesticides are used.  hey also cannot be used as a brown material in our compost. This is technically a nitrogen source.
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Ashley is a soil scientist who has had a passion for plants since she was a small child. In the long summers as a child, she would garden alongside her grandmother and it was then that she realized her love for greenery. With years of great studying, Ashley had begun her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan.
At first, her second love, animals, was the career path she chose but while doing her undergrad she realized that her education would take her elsewhere. And with that, four years later she graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in science and a major in Soil Science.
Some of Ashley’s interests are CZcams, in which she posts informative videos about plants and gardening. The focus of Ashley’s CZcams channel is to bring science to gardening in a way that is informative but also helpful to others learning to garden. She also talks about the importance of having your own garden and the joys of gardening indoors. Ashley continues to study plants in her free time and hopes to expand her CZcams channel as well as her reach to up and coming gardeners.
This description or comments section may contain contain link to affiliate websites. I receive a commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such link. This includes the gardening in Canada website. You should assume all links both on the gardening in canada CZcams, Blog, and all other social medias are affiliate and I will receive compensation.
#gardeningincanada #canadiangardener #soilscience - Jak na to + styl
Straw is what to aim for! How is everyone’s garden plans coming along?
I just ate my very first homegrown tomatoes and it was divine! In Tucson we are heading into the “dead month” of June, before the July rains. I am getting organized to start seeds indoors for the first time. Some heirloom tomatoes and flowers, mostly. I use mostly straw and wood chips for my mulch. Straw works brilliantly here because it helps reflect the heat off the soil.
Yay!!! That’s awesome congrats 🥳
Organic hay is fine. Up north. No spray is used on hay fields. And it has good nitrogen content.
We have ten acres of organic gardens
Have 3 inches of straw in all my veggie gardens for 2 years now. One of the best choices I made in the garden. No weeds, and keeps veggies clean of soil splash. Can go away for 3-4 days without having someone water for me. Also keeps my cats from using veggie soil as a litter box. lol
You always have such clear answers to issues. Thanks so much!
I appreciate that thank you!
Wish I saw this Before buying the hay this year. oh well, now I know. Thanks for the video
I switched to pea straw a couple years ago after I learned how many weeds Hay can bring to the garden! Just started planting my potatoes under straw tonight! Happy Gardening!
Oh yea! Pea straw is basically a hay/straw hybrid. I could see that being nutrient providing AND moisture retaining
Many thanks for the explanation about the differences between herbicides used on hay and straw. You rock!
Thank you!
Thank you very much I learned a lot from this video putting in a food plot in up north Michigan thanks again
Fall tree leaves as mulch for the win! No cost, easy to get in fall just bag them up, and little risk of pesticides.
Oh yes totally agree. I’m going to run mine over with the mower this year and make them nice and fine. Just to help with moisture retention
Heck yes another video thanks ash for teaching us all these amazing thing
Haha awe ❤️❤️
Thank you this was very helpful .
Glad you enjoyed! ❤️
Great info! Thanks
I am amazed at your volume of videos. You are amazing. I don't understand why you don't have more followers. I'll do my best to share and tell others about your channel. ps - one of my daughters has her BSc in Natural Resources Conservation. So much knowledge to obtain. Wish I had started younger. Living vicariously mother.
Hahaha that’s awesome ❤️ glad you’re enjoying
Although staw was expensive I tried it last season and did like it, Didn't know it could last for years, So next try I'll store it for the winter.
Thanks
Yea! If you can get flax straw for example it will just never disappear 😅😂
Thank you for this vid, i just learned about grazon and was freaking out about all the straw bedding i added to my compost
It's been a problem here in fl. for a while, I wouldn't gamble with hay, you are completely right! Grass seed in compost? I should have just put my last batch on the lawn!! Loaded with it, depressing, so now weeding has become transplanting, to the lawn where it belongs, thanks as always for the info!
Haha yea! I’m the same way. I’ll leave the hay too the bunnies and horses
Thanks Ashley
Absolutely anytime! What would you love to see a video on?
We use old straw bedding from winter. We do deep bedding method all winter. Sometimes hay from the goat and rabbit feeders gets mixed in. Using old bedding also gives free fertilizer as goat and rabbit droppings get mixed in.
Edit straw from chicken coop and run goes to compost. Chicken poo is way too hot to use right away.
That is awesome! Sounds like an ideal setup
@@GardeningInCanada thank you. We are trying for a closed loop system. We are also building our soil from decomposing granite so we need all of the compost/manure we can get. I love your videos by the way. Very informative. ❤️
I’m glad you are enjoying! Let me know if you want anything in particular
Well done. 👍
Maybe, You should have suggested which mulch is the best for a certain plants
Thanks for the comparison! Though we don't mulch with straw, we do use it for our rabbit nest boxes. The reason being it never gets moldy and the does aren't going to likely eat it. We do keep a couple of short bales of hay around for medicinal purposes. We use ground up leaves for mulch. Enjoyed, take care!
That is really interesting!
We use straw because that's what I'm able to buy from the farmer renting most of the land we're on. Last year, we tried breaking the straw down with a lawn mower, and I really preferred the smaller pieces. Unfortunately, it clogged the air filter like crazy. This year, we've got a wood chipper with a shredder chute, so we'll be using that to chop the straw for our gardening purposes. One round bale lasted us 2 years. We're expanding our garden a lot this year, so I expect to go through this one faster. We got it in the fall, so it's already been started on.
I had asked the farmer I buy from if he had any old hay I could buy from him; something no longer suitable to feed his cattle. Or maybe a load of manure. Alas, he had neither. He plows all that into his fields. I can't complain, because one of those fields is on our quarter! 😁
That sounds like an amazing deal you have going!
@@GardeningInCanada it really is a win-win-win situation. They had the arrangement with my late father to pay just enough rent to cover the taxes, then they take care of the land and fences. The arrangement continued with my mother, and now my brother owns the property. For us, instead of paying rent, we take care of the corner that isn't rented out, and are free to use the land as we consider best. Which means lots of gardening and, hopefully soon, chickens! :-D
Yea absolutely I totally believe that!
I use straw on the pathway in our greenhouse and it always sprouts grain in the winter lol
oh really that is so odd!
I was able to get a large number of old hay bales last year. I let it sit outside and rot for a year before using in the garden. It sticks together and stays put well in our high winds. I was given a partial bale of straw and much of it blew away. So far so good, but I may have just lucked out on the herbicide issue.
Nice! That’s awesome
Thank you.
Anytime!
Outside of the fall season, being closer to the city/suburbia, I’ve used rabbit/Guinea pig hay from Walmart as a mulch.
Hey hey. Fellow Canadian here. Master gardener. Ontario canada 🇨🇦. 35 years. 200 fruit trees. 2oo asparagus crowns. 1000 berry plants.
Holy! That is awesome
What's you tip , ?
I've had much luck using Timothy Hay - the prepackaged rabbit food hay at pet stores. I only do flower pot containers on my porch, live in an apartment, so I didn't need much mulch. I'd say it's easiest to pick the little weeds day by day until the other plants pop thru. Again, everything I have is very accessible and I can weed all 9 containers in 10 minutes. I let the stranger weeds/plants go for a little bit to see what they are. I did get a free bell pepper and a tobacco plant last year, so that was cool!
Timothy hay would definitely work!
My mama always said hay is for horses lol
Haha that is accurate!
I have started using the bales of EZ straw for my garden pathways. Weird thing is, I am hesitant to use it as mulch over my vegetables and flowers for 2 reasons. First is the aesthetic effect. This would make my entire garden/yard just be a straw floor with plants coming through in the garden beds. Second is because I am concerned about the work involved of placing the straw around the vegetables, moving it away when harvesting, placing it back etc. I find it easier to walk through rows and and weed with a hoe.
Yea it is a lot of work forsure
All Stores Please Lower the price of all Military and Local for all Brands of Hay,Oats & Straw Products and Accessories and Production Cost Now That's too much $$ The Whole World Now 🙏🙏🙏
Even though almost none of these videos are relevant to me as an apartment dweller, they're so fascinating!
Speaking of persistent -cides, I failed to dilute my tebuconazole/tau-fluvalinate nearly enough and I am scared I killed my rose cuttings in my attempt to save them from rapidly progressing leaf rust 😱 They look okay and alive still, but before the application there was new growth every day and they have looked about the same for 4+ days since application 😭 Lessons learned I guess? I don't want to rinse the plants since I don't want trebuconazole to leech into any water supplies. Whoops!
Awee ❤️❤️❤️ I’ll make some videos for you I PROMISE!
@@GardeningInCanada Nooo I mean yes but also nooo please don't feel any obligation to tailor your content in any way! My favorite videos are anything involving science/papers anyway 😅 I LOVED learning how seed vaults actually work!
We live in SW Ontario and our straw costs the same as hay. So it is different depending on where you live.
Oooo that’s pretty darn good then
I will be interested hear what you think. I'm not concerned about chemicals given the rules around here, but I always heard hay is better due to the nutrients when it breaks down. I prefer straw just because I hate the smell of wet hay.
HAHA yes wet hay is gross
Oh my goodness I accidentally got straw and it tried spreading everywhere lol got it out now fortunately. Next time I’m covering my raise beds with leaves instead.
I use grass clippings and leaves generally
I've been burnt so many times by straw in my area (Washington state) that I have totally switched to wood chips for mulch.
Oh no! That’s not fun
Yes agree I'm thinking same ,has the wood worked? On a food plot would it work for no till gardening in your opinion?
Hi and thanks for all the great content. What do you think about hay that is mixed into rabbit manure? I'm sourcing some rabbit manure from someone I know, she asked me if it's ok if there's some hay mixed in. Now I don't know what to say. The rabbit owner knows the farmers that she sources this hay for the rabbits and they say it's not treated. Also it is "second cut" hay so I think that means no seeds.
I live under redwood trees, so all of our debris is highly acidic. I’m trying to figure out how to use it as a mulch. I am using it on my azaleas, rhododendrons and things like that. Any suggestions? Can it be used in the compost pile?
Hi Ashley, love you channel and content. You asked how our garden plans are coming along. I lost all my tomato seedlings. I think they were damping off. No over fertilizing no under or over watering. I can't figure it out. All my other veg and flower seedlings are doing fine. I didn't sterilize my containers this year. Been growing tomato seedlings for years with much success. Any clues so I can avoid this in the future? Tks
Oh no! Did they germinate and get some true leaves? Or just nothing right from the start
@@GardeningInCanada yes to true leaves. Some managed to survive with several but there are very pale green and lanky. Not sure if I should risk putting them in the ground or just pay a visit to the nursery.
If your garden is very compact, pet store, small animal bedding, straw bales may be enough for you.
Yea great point!
@@kingjames4886 Indeed, but a square meter of strawberries might be overwhelmed by a full bale of straw, and some folks don't have much storage space.
@@kingjames4886 The trip to an agricultural supplier might also cost more in fuel and time than sourcing a resource locally.
@@wayneessar7489 ?? You control how much mulch to add, nobody forces an experienced gardener , it's common sense, buy big bulk bails ,add when needed ,think like a farmer not a city slicker
💚💚
❤️❤️
From my understanding, glyphosate is a contact killer. Meaning once sprayed and dried, the chemical is inherit when it comes in contact with soil or is absorbed by the plant. There isn’t a residual effect. So straw sprayed with glyphosate would not be a problem?
Actually Glycophosfate is actually systemic, also check out the 1/2 life of it, it sticks around, and is found in tissue tests.
No it wouldn’t be a big. It’s pretty much useless after 14 days. Soil microbes decompose it really quickly
@@GardeningInCanada I just had Mid-West Lab. return a report, and it showed several pre-post herbicide chems, Glyco was on the list, the subdivision I live in used to be a Cotton field, so the chems don't go away. Check Europe's standards for "Organic Certs." it may well be enlightening what 1/2 life's are with some of our current thinking. Try sell Canadian food into Europe.
I mulched with organic straw and wheat or some other cereal popped up in my corn and potatoes! How can I know which one so I get the benefits of water retention and weed prevention? In my case I literally put weeds in my garden and cant get them out bc the kernals are all into the soil. Be great if you want to grow some cereal grains but not what I was hoping for.
Can I put either on grass so it works as fertilizer and water so I can restore grass?
Does mulching with paddy straw affect soil ph?
what do you do to prevent straw mulch from flying away due to strong winds. we get that a lot here in our area. thanks.
Oh! Watering would be the only thing.
How to clean pesticides off of non organic straw? Soak in hot water with baking soda or maybe humic acid solution? Or what?
What about dry hemp mulch
I have 70 bales of moldy hay ( grown here organically) with a few mushrooms. Last years hay left uncovered over winter. Can I use this as mulch in my vegetable garden. Specifically Ruth Stout method of growing potatoes?
Yup! No issue there as long as it doesn’t smell rotten
If I want to grow cover crops in a plot, then how would I use mulch on top?
Intercropping with a cover crop or after harvest?
@@GardeningInCanada I want to plant cover crop seeds in empty soil patches of my garden with very hard soil to improve them for next year. I also want to plant them in many of the patches that have annual and perennial vegetables and flowers, after they are tall enough, so I can tell them apart easily.
I plan to sow cover crop seeds in July and early August so that they have time to grow before frost. Frost in Calgary is usually September 14 or something, I read.
Okay! Perfect just gives me an idea for the videos
What about pine needles?
Ohhhhh I like this idea for a video. But that’s going to work fine so long as your top dressing with a compost first
Can you do a video on Creeping Charley? It's loving my no dig 😔
Oh no! I will put it on the list
What is your take on using hemp fiber or hemp hay to be used on the garden? So should I burn 🔥 the hay bale that I bought from Walmart or should I throw it in the trash 🗑🤔? I rather use grass clippings to be on the safe side. Can you also talk about other mulching substitute for mulching like hemp, rooted wood 🪵 products, pine needles, saw dust and shredded up paper for pet bedding 🛌?
It is MEGA touch stuff and doesn't decomp easy. So for soil protection it is ideal . Nutrients not so much
@@GardeningInCanada thank you I really appreciate it 🙏🙌❤
Grazon! 😤😠
I made the huge mistake of using hay in my chicken run. It makes great deep litter method substrate BUT I added it to my compost pile. 😞 So that compost pile will be for the edge of the yard and my new pile won't get any hay or anything grown near that hay.
I was told to plant a dense cover crop and then burn that at the end of the season to remove the grazon (glycophosphate?) Will that work??
You could definitely do that!
If hay is used for food for lifestock animals and they are full of persistent pesticides, then what are we eating😳 we are ingesting the pesticides as well 😳?
Grazon
I didn't think hay fields were sprayed.
Some do and some don’t. It comes down to the management choice. This is a good resource that describes time and purpose for herbicides in pastures extension.psu.edu/spring-weed-control-in-grass-hay-and-pasture
Hi
In the U.S. Dr. Elaine Ingham is a well known soils scientist. She advises composting straw to get fungal dominant compost. Do you agree?
Yea! Anything high carbon will cause that. Like my recent raised bed video with leaves will be fungal dominated
Hehe. I'm not sure what you actually said but if you turn on captions, your first 3 words are "hello slime people".
AHAHAHA I love that. I said plant BUT in cc defence i run my words together . It’s a Saskatchewan thing apparently
You have good content and know your stuff but you have bad audio, feed back issues, if you want a talk video please check your system.