Use as mulch or not?

[Dixana]

While I was chatting with my SIL in the barn this morning (same farm we'll be moving to) I became aware they use chopped dried corn stalks and leaves for the cow bedding.
I'm curious what you guys think about using chopped corn for mulch? It seems like it might work really nicely, but my only concern is how much slower it might degrade than straw. It really soaks up the moisture from the urine and doesn't seem to break down much even when saturated. I wouldn't want to put it on my garden and find massive corn chunks come next spring, but they spread it on the fields around the farm with no problem.....

Thoughts? Would you use it?


(sorry I've been rather absent lately but baby on the way, planning the move, and returning to work have me super busy!)

[DoubleDogFarm]

Dixana,

Sounds like it's a heavy mulch and maybe on the rich side. I would first recommend composting it. If you want to use it right away, probably not a good idea around leaf greens. I would have no problem using it around the base of vegetables such as, tomatoes, squash, beans, and any group that sprawl or climb.

Eric

[soil]

you know how some people make leaf mold piles? well I make corn mold piles. I simply run all the stalks and leaves and such through my chipper after I harvest the corn, then leave it in a pile all winter, by spring its beautiful perfect mulch, thriving with life. it makes other plants very happy. I use it on my garlic a lot.

[Dixana]

I wonder if it would need composting first? This is the corn leftovers that sat all fall, and sometimes all winter before being cut down and run through some type of chipper/shredder.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do, Yo said she used mulch 2 years ago down there and had horrible slug and cutworm problems since they had somewhere to hide all day I never thought of that being an issue.
I also know I'm going to have issues with pumpkins growing rampant where I want to expand the existing garden since she had a pumpkin patch there last year and left half of them to rot.

[lifegrower]

I bought 6 big round bales of chopped corn stalks for our half-acre gardens several yars ago, and it made wonderful mulch. Supressed weeds, and broke down nicely by season's end. Some of the corn sprouted, but that was the only problem.