rotten straw bales

[vegypeteMember]

hi ya i went to pick up some bags of horse manure at the week end, when i was at the stables the girls said i could have some rotten staw bales that had split open and had got wet, what woould be best use of these store and rottdown on the compost bin or spread on to the beds risking a population of slugs?

[gjParticipant]

I mulch a lot with straw and I don’t find it gives a greater problem with slugs.I grew all my potatoes under a straw mulch this year, with no earthing up. 12 rows 5 meters long and only two pots lost to slug damage. Others may have different experiences.

[charlesModerator]

 My experience has always been that straw on top of soil encourages slugs underneath by offering shelter and moisture. But in the dry summer of 2011 (remember that one?!) a straw mulch worked well and potatoes were barely eaten as slugs were breeding much less, and it was after a frosty winter too when slugs took a hit, unlike this winter when their numbers are still high.

If you are on sandy soil it is probably worthwhile but otherwise I would use straw in the compost heap or, if you have a lot, and if you have space, I would simply stack it to finish rotting into dark compost, then spread it inb the autumn.

[vegypeteMember]

hi ya i just found instuctions of how to make mushroom compost, it seems an excelerated way of making compost with straw horse manurec and or deep litter chicken manure, hope it is not to rich for vegys, apparently it is ready in 3-4 weeks, just right for spreading on the beds at the end of januery.

[charlesModerator]

 Good plan but you will need to turn every ten days or thereabouts to maintain the fast composting (and it will be slower at this time of year), and keep excess rain off – and it won’t be too rich, vegetables love it!

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