Hay Bale Gardening

[denasfarm]

I found this on Youtube. Seems to me its basically using the Haybale as a container? Are there Benefits other than just being unique? Its not cheaper than Square foot. You would have to rebuy bales yearly.
I may buy one and try some herbs in it. My concern is Pests and drying out super fast.
Anyone actually done this method? Looks like we should have started the bales in the fall!

 

[yinepu]

WOW That's expensive. I was complaining that it was $5 a bale for straw and $7 for Hay here...I buy both. When we lived in TN it was $3 for Hay.
So Once you get a Bale what next? Pour seeds on top?

$ 25. a bale for coastal hay here

 

[bluejeans]

yes but New Mexico alfalfa and straw hay bales weigh almost 3 lb -- not 16 ounces like your liquid hay bales back there

they actualy dry out here before there baled ..

just kidding

three wire bales here can weigh about 80 to 120 lbs
and went for 16 to 20 dollars this winter.. both alfalfa and oat hay .

were also competting with the large commercial dairy industry for hay .

and that propably drives the cost up for the little guy that can not afford to buy in quantity the commercials do..

And their is that water thing .. every thing out here has to be either ditch or sprinkle irrigated .. and that drives up the cost as well.

 

[bluejeans]

hay bale growing would be fun to try in new mexico if a guy could get some cheap straw hay some place..

 

[yinepu]

yes but New Mexico alfalfa and straw hay bales weigh almost 3 lb -- not 16 ounces like your liquid hay bales back there

they actualy dry out here before there baled ..

just kidding

three wire bales here can weigh about 80 to 120 lbs
and went for 16 to 20 dollars this winter.. both alfalfa and oat hay .

were also competting with the large commercial dairy industry for hay .

and that propably drives the cost up for the little guy that can not afford to buy in quantity the commercials do..

And their is that water thing .. every thing out here has to be either ditch or sprinkle irrigated .. and that drives up the cost as well.

Lol.. still not worth the gas.. our bales run right around 120+ pounds for coastal.. alfalfa seems to be heavier (never weighed one to know for sure) these are 3 string bales.. I have a very hard time lifting them even though i am used to hauling feed bags and adult emus with no problems.. so I'm not really sure what the alfalfa weighs. On very rare occasions they will have the 2 stringers for $10.

btw.. our bales are all trucked in.. most of the coastal hay fields died a few years ago with the really bad drought we had.. so 90% of our hay has to be brought in from other states .. so now those fields need to be replanted in order to get our local supply back to where it was. So unless I want to buy a tractor trailer full of hay.. I'll let the feed stores truck it in for me..

 

[fowlsessed]

I would like to bring one thing to your attention. This bale gardening seems to have many benefits, and does, but keep in mind that plants really only need about 17(?) different nutrients for proper growth. Our bodies need significantly more for optimal health. And how should we ideally be getting our nutrients?...from our food. what's one of the greatest reasons to grow at home?....better food.
The plants may grow fine in the straw, but you're not getting as much nutrients in your food to benefit your body as you should be. When the nutrients WE need are present in the soil, they sorta 'piggy-back' into the plant with the other nutrients that the plant needs.
So, what I'm trying to say is that your food may not be as nutritional with this method. Even though, just because your growing in soil doesn't mean your getting all the nutrients you need. Yes, typically more than if growing in straw alone, but many should be supplemented, such as with a product like Sea-90 or even just free sea-weed and water. Just to supplement some trace minerals.

And I had never heard of this growing method before, interesting! And it could certainly fill certain gaps around here.

 

[SweetSilver]

*

 

[StrawBaleGrdner]

Sorry, but the last post which claims that the vegetables grown in a Straw Bale Garden do have the same nutritional value or nutrient content, is flatly false. I could explain in detail why, but just take it from a PhD in Plant Physiology, Dr. Simon Peltaric, that this is not a true statement. Usually these arguments are conjecture, simply made up by people with some other agenda, trying to sell something to fix a problem like lack of fertility, and these supplements are not needed. While you are planting into a bale of straw, the substrate is no longer straw once it has been conditioned it has become "soil", brand new soil, as it is just decomposed or in the process of decomposing. I would suggest that making discouraging comments about something that you know nothing about and have no experience with is very much a pointless exercise, but can be destructive to efforts made by others to promote the extraordinary success they've had. It is really too bad but I realize everyone has a right to their own opinion, just not their own facts.

 

[fowlsessed]

Are

Sorry, but the last post which claims that the vegetables grown in a Straw Bale Garden do have the same nutritional value or nutrient content, is flatly false.  I could explain in detail why, but just take it from a PhD in Plant Physiology, Dr. Simon Peltaric, that this is not a true statement.  Usually these arguments are conjecture, simply made up by people with some other agenda, trying to sell something to fix a problem like lack of fertility, and these supplements are not needed.  While you are planting into a bale of straw, the substrate is no longer straw once it has been conditioned it has become "soil", brand new soil, as it is just decomposed or in the process of decomposing.  I would suggest that making discouraging comments about something that you know nothing about and have no experience with is very much a pointless exercise, but can be destructive to efforts made by others to promote the extraordinary success they've had.  It is really too bad but I realize everyone has a right to their own opinion, just not their own facts.

are you Dr. Simon? That didn't come from me, it came from a gentleman I know who worked with multi-million dollar agricultural operations and NO he doesn't sell any of these products. Simply tries to educate the people. And here's a question, just because it's soil does it mean it can't be deficient? And just cause we disagree does that mean I have no idea of what I'm talking about?

 

[fowlsessed]

But I must say, you just misunderstood what I wrote. When I was talking of deficiencies, I was talking about soil in general, not just the straw bale soil VS. ground soil. I just wasn't clear.