treefella
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Mulch Hay With Video

Hi folks. New guy here. I have a question about some year old mulch hay that I intend to use for mulching. I lined the outer perimeter of the garden with 15 in tact bales of mulch hay last year. I was having some water runoff issues and these bales seemed to help divert the water that was running through the garden. Most of them are about half as high as they were when I set them. The worms and grubs are doing a number on them. The insides of the old bales are quite rotten and the outside are still "hay" looking, though grey and weather beaten. Since they have been outside in the elements for 14 months I am hoping that any hay seeds are shot and will not germinate when I use the hay for mulching. I am intending to turn my garden into a no till garden. I can peel off about 2 inch layers of these bales and mat them around my plants and let them set there til next season at which time I hope the rotting process will be complete.
Here is a video of my hay bales
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WniMCeTgX0Q <<
Any thoughts?

treefella
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:02 pm

Can't believe that no one could even reply to my question

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GardeningCook
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Location: Upper Piedmont area of Virginia, Zone 7a

One reason why no one has responded is that new posters posting links to videos are 99.9% spammers or folks trying to draw people in to their Youtube videos because they make money by doing so. Sorry - but that's the way of the world. You would have gotten more responses by posting photos here. If you still insist on Youtube only, than I - & others - can only assume you are only looking for Youtube visitors.

treefella
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:02 pm

Would I really bother with a long post to get someone to click my YouTube video? The question could be answered by reading the post alone.

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GardeningCook
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Location: Upper Piedmont area of Virginia, Zone 7a

I apologize for being so suspicious, but honestly you have no idea how many "new members" join just to post links for reasons other than to obtain gardening info. It's an insidious disease of websites everywhere.

I did watch your video, & as I myself frequently use old hay/straw bales for compost & garden mulch (I have horses), I can tell you with almost certainty that your bales will be great for your garden. They're practically full compost already. I sincerely doubt you'll have any trouble with any sprouting (if they were going to sprout, they'd be sprouting out of the bales already); however you'll have to protect young planted seedlings against Cutworms, which your "grubs" strongly resemble. When I've had to deal with them I just plant young seedlings with collars from cheap wax-paper-type Dixie cups (cut in half horizontally to make two collars each) buried about an inch or two into the soil around each seedling.

treefella
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:02 pm

Thanks for the reply. I sent photos of the grubs to 2 county extensions to get them identified. Been a week and no response. Best I can tell myself is that they are Rose Chafer grubs. Anyway I moved it all into the garden yesterday. We'll hope for the best.



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