#321370
Jun 15th, 2010 at 01:40 PM
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Hi all! I am new to this board but have been an avid flower and vegetable gardener for a while now. I replanted my strawberry patch this year and decided to do it the "right" way and bought what I thought was straw to use as mulch. Well, imagine my surprise when it started sprouting. And with all the rain we've had it is now growing like crazy and I have been unable to keep up with it. What should I do? Pull all of it out and start over??? Mind you I am 30 weeks pregnant and doing most of this myself.... Thanks, Karyn
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California Queen
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California Queen
Joined: Nov 2005
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Welcome, Karyn. Congratulations on your (almost) new baby. It sounds like you got hay with the seeds intact. Yes, pulling is about the only cure for that. I am sorry.
~Tina ![[Linked Image]](//www.agardenersforum.com/images/graphics/buttons/tina.gif) ![[Linked Image]](//www.agardenersforum.com/images/graphics/buttons/gardenhelper.jpg) Drama Free Zone. What every gardener loves the most, Begins and ends in rich compost. (Tina)
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Thanks.....
Only half of my garden is sprouting, the half that I paid the most for from Home Depot. The other half I got dirt cheap from a farm and it only has a few sprouts...
Any chance of just adding another layer of the farm stuff over the HD stuff to kill the sprouts??
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Northern Star
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Northern Star
Joined: Jun 2003
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Hi and welcome  ..yikes hay is awful for gardens. Are your berries newly planted or have they been settled in for a month or so?
~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt. ![[Linked Image from agardenersforum.com]](//www.agardenersforum.com/images/psd/sunny.jpg)
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They've been in for a month or so and are actually doing well. I've managed to keep the hay away from the berries, just using it between rows and between plants, without actually touching the plants....
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Miss. Farmer
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Miss. Farmer
Joined: May 2008
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There was an excellent post here a long while back about the different kinds of "straw" and what to look for. It was so good I emailed it to myself. I'll see if I can find it and link or repost it. Meanwhile...
I had this problem once. The new little "straw" plants are probably just rooting in the straw itself and haven't gotten into the underlying soil. Is there any way-- in your condition!-- that you can use a pitch fork or garden rake or some other implement to just "uproot" the little plants? I'm thinking to just disturb them in a big way... mess 'em up so they'll dry out when exposed to the sun.
You could also try to cover the straw with something to block the light-- newspaper, cardboard, plastic-- just until the sprouts are dead.
IMHO the value of what the straw adds to the soil is worth a bit of extra work.
Another idea: do you have a hand-held cultivator or any sort? That would also do the trick of uprooting them.
Good luck!
![[Linked Image]](https://www.agardenersforum.com/images/graphics/buttons/marica.jpg) "No crime is involved in plagiarizing nature's ways" (Edward H. Faulkner, 1943, "Plowman's Folly," University of Oklahoma Press).
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Northern Star
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Northern Star
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 30,493 Likes: 61 |
They've been in for a month or so and are actually doing well. I've managed to keep the hay away from the berries, just using it between rows and between plants, without actually touching the plants.... yup I agree..if you can keep the area handpicked around the berries then smothering the rest is the way to go., see if you can lay cardboard over the weeds, it'll kill the weeds with no work.
~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt.
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Congrats on the baby to be! I would probably pluck what I could (that is if bending over is an option) and the rest I would cover with newspaper to block out the sun. My hubby accidently spilled some grass seed in my flower garden out front that sprouted in droves! I cut back what I could and then used 2 or 3 sheets of newspaper to cover the rest. I put mulch over that to keep the newspapers in place. It killed the grass but let water thro to the soil. Eventually the newspaper just disentegrated too. Good luck with the hay and the baby!
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -Henry David Thoreau
* Crystal *
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Thanks for all the advice.....it's hard to do a lot of bending, but I did manage to get some cardboard down and will also attempt the newspaper route. All this while attempting to keep my 14 month old out of the way since he likes to "help" in the garden :)
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WOW! How do you do it? I have a 14 month old little girl. I got a tiny watering can for her and she likes watering herself, the garden, the grass, my feet and anything else she can get into! Can't imagine chasing her while preggo too! PROPS!
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -Henry David Thoreau
* Crystal *
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Miss. Farmer
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Miss. Farmer
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For anyone who might be interested-- here's the post I mentioned above. I thought Jay had some good advise about different straws & hays. I guess you could say I use the layer method of gardening to some extent. Some years I still rip it deep which pulls everything on top down some. Then I have to till some afterwards. Otherwise I'm getting more like the Ruth Stout method and was way before I even heard and read about her. I don't put any cardboard down. The thing I like about grass clippings is they lay better than straw in the wind. I usually apply them freshly mown and spread them thin so they will dry and not stink.
I've been around and involved in farming and ranching all my 56 years. The thing about hay and straw is kind, when it is cut, type, and how it is put up. I feel that is one reason you see so many different opinions on straw and hay. Here most if not all straw is baled behind the combine. So there is always some wheat seed in it. I've put down some now that had set in large bales rotting for 3-4 years and the bales were half rotted and still having more problems with seeds germinating than I ever have. Here the hay is mainly alfalfa which is great most of the times. As it should be cut before it seeds. A few growers that don't take care of their fields will have dirty hay but most don't. As long as what they have hasn't went to seed I'm ok with it. If it has I stay away. The other hays you find around here are what we call feed hay( sorghum ect), bermuda( Which is like using grass clippings if cut young and dried properly) and some are growing some grass mixes for horses(again avoid any that has went to seed). I don't use much feed hay as the stalks are two coarse usually. I have cleaned up the bottomw of stacks where it has rotted. My main point is everyones experience can be different depending on source. And many don't know their sources like I do and also haven't looked at as much hay and straw as I have over the years. I can usually look at it and know right off if I want to use it. Wheat and oat hay unless cut real young are two to stay away from as you can have lots of seed problems. If mulched heavlly it is easy to remove though. Just some of my thoughts and experiences on using straw and hay. Jay
"No crime is involved in plagiarizing nature's ways" (Edward H. Faulkner, 1943, "Plowman's Folly," University of Oklahoma Press).
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