I'm going to try strawbale gardening!

Jnette,
How frequently are you recommending? I have used the fish emulsion with the straw but always with other organic granular fertilizers as well (usually Fertrell or Espoma granular). When I plant I add worm castings to the soil and that provides some nitrogen plus minerals. I also add gypsum and some rock phosphate. This year I plan to use more of the liquid fertilizers that I have. The Aggrand brand has a fish fertilizer, liquid calcium, liquid lime, and liquid kelp. Tomatoes have usually done well for me in straw (except for last summer) without frequent feeding but maybe with the liquid I will need it more often. I was more concerned about her using the fish emulsion and then the MG so soon after. Mightn't the MG be a little strong after the fish emulsion? Aggrand recommends feeding with the fish emulsion (with the addition of the calcium and kelp) every two weeks. That should suffice even in straw I would think. But I add a lot of potting mix to my straw. Maybe that makes a difference. I don't know. Always experimenting!

I thought I said half strrength for starters??? I'm sorry, but you did not recommend any of the above for her. Just fish emulsion. Do the instructions on the fish emulsion talk about any of this stuff you are saying?

Sorry Connie if we are confusing you. Jessica I just did not think the fish emulsion would be enough. You might be doing all of this stuff but I didn't hear any of that from you for Connie and I don't think she is into experimenting like you talk about.

Well since I seem to be confusing you all just follow Jnette's recommendations!
All I originally recommended was a way to get started and maybe help the original plants recover. The fish emulsion seemed the safest solution. Once everything is going I still recommend continuing with the fish emulsion every two weeks plus the bone meal and kelp which were not in the original recommendations because they come later. Fish emulsion should be strong enough. I'm sure others have used it and can offer more input on that. But tomatoes always need some calcium so I was adding the liquid bone meal as well. But I will now back off since I cannot guarantee anything and Jnette has had more experience! It sounds like things are improving which is a good thing!

Jessica, there are no guarantees with these tomatoes. All we can do is try and hope Connie can get some good produce. That is all either of us wants for her out of these plants. She has had a tough time with them.

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I don't think I have more experience than you, I just think that we should try with the least bit of complications to get those plants to grow. You and I both probably do a lot of things to our plants that I would never try to tell other people to do. But I don't think Connie wants to spend a lot of money on the rest of those products.

Goodnight, Jeanette

Thanks so much for the suggestions and help :) I am scared to say that ALL of the plants are looking good and have grown at least 3 inches since last post. Don't want to brag today and cry tomorrow so I better shut up before I jinx myself LOL! We finally found some fish emulsion and fed the plants on Monday. I am not in the position to "experiment" much this year...maybe next year. I thought I read on one of the posts that MG for tomatoes ( 18-18-21) was used. Maybe that was a figment of my imagination...dunno. Do I need to keep using the fish emulsion every week or can I use the MG? Not sure where to go from here as I don't want to lose them a second time (wink). Step 2 please...

I guess I need to know which fertilizer to use and how often out of the 2.

Thanks so much !!

Connie

Ok Connie, glad to hear from you, and so glad they are growing. I would go ahead and use the fish emulsion for another week and watch them. Then I would go with the MG tomato fertilizer at maybe half strength for a starter and then go to whatever they call for. (You see, we still don't know what the problem with the bales is) I am not sure what the NPK is on it, will have to look when I fertilize. I would use it once a week and DON'T forget to water. The straw does dry out fast.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, but don't think it is necessary. Please keep us posted.

Hey Jnette!!

Sounds like a plan to me. Thank you so very much!!! Oh, I definitely will have to keep you updated...ya helped raise 'em (grin)!!

Connie

Were you able to save any of your other plants? Did you plant the cucumber? How is it doing?

I looked and yes, my MG tomato fert is 18-18-21. Must be the same thing.

Ok, I looked up above and you said you are using some kind, I think you said Expert soil that has the slow release good for 9 months? I think once these tomatoes are settled in, another week or 2, I would go to a regular weekly feeding of whatever the fertilizer box says.

If they aren't going to make it in those bales I just don't know what to tell you. But, keep an eye on what your neighbors are spraying. Just a precaution. Sorry to be so careful, but we are going to do everything possible to get tomtoes off of those plants!!

One cherry tomato survived the first round and has recovered so well you can't see any damage now. Lost the rest. Hubby replaced the cucumbers with seed instead of plants this time. They were just planted so it will take a bit for those. We also have 2 watermelons in a bale. I understand on being careful. Guess that's why I was asking on the fertilizer. Don't want to burn them. If it is the same strength as yours then fish the next 2 weeks, 1/2 strength MG on the third and full MG the fourth week? See...I am paranoid too LOL!!! You are correct on the Expert potting soil. We ran out and had to get something different (can't find anything you need around here) which was used for the cucumber seed.

Just asked hubby if he had anything to say to you. His response was "Hey, Girl!" HA,HA!!!!

Connie

Well, I just hope we are not being overly cautious so you don't get any ripe tomatoes. I know you are in zone 5 but then I just planted my tomatoes about 10 days ago myself. So, hopefully we will both have a good summer for these babies to put out.

Connie, I keep forgetting that you did not prep your bales with anything did you? See, I am worried about too much fertilizer. But, you don't have anything on them. I don't see why you can't go to the MG on your next fertilizer. Especially if they are growing. You see, it either has to be the bales or some spray of some kind. If it was the bales that caused the problem with your first plants then maybe you have washed whatever it was out of them. How long did you have your plants in there before they took a dive?

I keep holding my breath. Just be sure that whenever you water your bales, water the entire bale. Once the weather gets warm they can take it. What are your temps running now?

How is your hubby doing since his surgery?

Hubby just left for therapy. He is doing so much better than before but his shoulder still bothers him. TIME!!! Thanks so much for asking :)

You are right again, nothing was added to break down the bales. Just occurred to me that the bales were sitting out under a "pole barn" so to speak at the store. That part has a roof over it but is open on 3 sides and the wall of the store is on the other. A main road runs beside it and the road is up higher than the store. You have to go down hill into the driveway, so...Maybe it was the salt and muck that was sprayed on the roads this winter. After we got the bales we started soaking them for a couple of months before planting. Hmmmmm Anyway, yes we are soaking the whole bales and also filling those liter bottles to let it soak in more and less run off. Hubby said when he checked on the plants this morning, the peppers looked a little wilted. UGH!!!!!! We had a strong storm pass through here last night and we hope it is due to that. We will check them again later this afternoon. "Perk up lil' fellers..."

Connie

You know Connie, you may have hit on it right there. SALT. You live in Missouri right? I looked at the exchange to see. Do they use salt on the roads in the winter? Why does that store have them sitting out there I wonder. What do they use them for, to keep the muck from the road out of the store? If that is the case, they have no business selling them.

They should not be stored there anyway if they are going to sell them.

Wow, now I am thinking that might be it. I think my DH idea of having a sample done by the extension office might be a good idea. Why don't you call them and ask what the procedure would be to have them checked for herbicides or salt. Or anything they find. I guess if it looks like you might lose your plants again, it most likely is a bale problem. I wonder if they would charge you for it. Ask.

I wonder what the store owners thought they were going to sell the straw for, bedding for animals, mulch for plants, or what? Why would they stock an item and then treat it like that?

Go look at the plants and let me know.

Peppers are back up YAY!!! Hubby said they were scaredy cats from the storm HA! They mainly sell the bales here for halloween, bedding for animals, and I expect they use it for mulch (not good). One elderly lady has her son put bales around her mobile home for insulation in the winter. (God bless her) Hubby just said that they have it tarped now and just open on the front side. I personally can still visualize gunk getting in there. They were just about out of straw when we got ours and we will look early for some in other towns for next year. Our winter was extremely bad last year. It was bad everywhere! Note to self: buy them BEFORE winter for next year. Now that we are loving the bale system we can prepare for the next round.

Oh, yep, you are right again! Mo is where we take our hat off now. Born and raised here in this very house, moved south, moved back, miss the south but tired of moving LOL!! Your hubby had a good idea on the extension office. They do charge for it and I am thinking they still have to send samples off unless they have changed that up recently. It is so rural here. There would be nothing we could do at this point so we will continue on and remember this mess to plan for next year. How could ya forget HA!!!! They are all looking so good now and hopefully whatever it is or was, is gone now. I just want to make sure I don't burn them with fertilizer now that we have something green besides grass in those bales :) Wanna keep 'em green and growing!!

Connie

Connie, you are so funny. LOVING THE BALE SYSTEM?? After all you've been thru? You guys are amazing. I would just go ahead with a regular schedule of once a week with the MG tomato fertilizer. Because you are using straw which has no nutrients.

If you think they are getting too much, just let up on it or cut it to half strength etc. You will be fine and we sure do want pictures after all of this.

Good luck and keep us posted.

We can do it!!! (thumbs up) Thanks, Girl :)

Connie

Hey all,

Just a quick report from Door County, Wisconsin (zone 5a on the chart, but feels more like zone 4 this year!) ... I finally have 10 of our 12 bales planted! HOORAY!! Just two bales to go, and way more plants than I have bales =) which is a nice problem to have!

I have had four kinds of tomatoes & 2 kinds of peppers in the bales for 3 days now, and nothing has died yet. =) (I know, a WHOLE three days, hahaha.) I just planted 4 kinds of peppers, 2 more tomatoes, 1 kind ea. squash & zucchini, and a bale full of broccoli tonight.

For those who are curious, we are growing:

TOMATOES
• Husky Cherry Red (I screwed up - this was supposed to go in a pot -- OOOOPS.)
• Jet Star
• Sunsugar
• Early Girl
• Better Boy (SIX plants!)
• Viva Italia
• Super Fantastic

PEPPERS
• Big Daddy Yellow
• Big Bertha Green/Red
• Lady Bell Green
• Sweet Banana
• Pinot Noir

Since not everything is planted yet, I didn't take pictures, but I will as soon as it's all in. It might be a couple days, since it is hard to dig holes in the bales to put the plants in, so I usually rest the day after planting bales to work on flower boxes instead. :o)

I love being outside and planting, but I will be very glad when the most I have to do is just water things for a while! Oh yeah, and eat veggies. =)

:) K

Awesome!!!!!! You said "I know, a WHOLE three days, hahaha"...that was how long it took for mine to die. LOL!!! I hope yours are perky and you do way better than we did. Ya'll sure helped me out though and got me back on track :) You have a great variety going on there. YUMMY!!!! Nothing better than home grown :)

Connie

Ok Connie, I've been expecting to hear from you. How are they doing? Afraid to ask.

Jeanette

LOL, Jnette...I am afraid to tell ya!! I am so scared to say anything at this point so I won't tell you they have grown several inches and most importantly they are all green growing vertically this time. (wink)

Connie

Hi all. Was reading (above) about use of fish emulsion. This is what I use and, when I used it last time, it was so incredibly smelly that I was kind of dreading it. But I had one of those screw on the hose bottles that came with Miracle Gro (back when I was less fanatical about organic fertilizer), and put about 1/2 c. of fish emulsion in the bottle and screwd it on the hose and I use that to water now. It's not at all unpleasant - actually smells just like the ocean . . . so I figured it's probably just right. Sure seems to be doing a good job. I'll post some pictures when it stops raining.

Well now Connie, I don't know how to take that response. Whether they are going to make it or not.

Suz, would love to see pictures. How often do you use it (fish sprayer) and do you drench fertilize at all. If so, what? With your hay are you saying that is enough?

Jnette, I was joking :) They are growing great!!! Ya know how it is sometimes...if ya start bragging about how good something is growing...they die LOL! That is where "I won't tell you..." comes in. Sorry about that. We fertilized this morning with fish emulsion and will start with MG in 2 weeks. When they get a few more inches on them, I will send another pic.

Please share pics Suzan :)

Connie

LOL, Connie, I think you will be safe to start MG next week. How long did your first ones live in the bales?

Jnette: I pretty much keep the sprayer/diluter bottle hooked up all the time (has a nice full, gentle spray) and replenish the fish emulsion every 4 or 5 days. It's all I've used and is working very well.

I'll add some pics I took this morning.

This one's a squash plant>

Moon & stars watermelon plants

First plum tomatoes

Row of tomato plants

Green bean plants

Since my helper got a new boyfriend, I'm pretty much on my own, so my garden is messy and everywhere that isn't bales is weeds, but it's ok- it's raining right now, so I'll be able to go and work on weed control later and, hopefully, put some nice heavy weed cover fabric over the ones I pull to get them nice and cooked for the compost pile!

I've had to come to terms with waiting until late in the season to plant my chard, lettuces and arrugula- it just got too bloody HOT too early.

Jnette, the plants were in the bales less than a week when the first batch went to veggie heaven.

Suzan...looking good!!!! I have green beans in the "normal" garden LOL!! How many do you have planted in each bale? My plants are growing this time (YAY!!) but not as big as yours yet.

Connie

they'll get there Connie. Mine are just a week or so ahead of Suz's. In size. But don't have any tomatoes on them. Looking good Suz.

Love pictures.

I don't plant mine as close as your's Suz. Wonder if I should. They get so big and sprawly. What do you do to keep them up? I have been using Bungie cords. LOL, only because they were there and handy.

My peppers aren't doing too well tho. We have had soooooo much rain. Today it finally turned on the heat. They should love that.

My tomatoes need to be tied up- I use strips of cloth, kind of loosely tied to the fence behind;I have it up to about 8'.
(I think that using more urea per bale this year has got my bales breaking down at an accelerated rate- next year, I'll cut it back to 1 c./day or less during the high nitrogen period.) So far reinfording them by retieing them in the other direction has helped, plus I'm filling in with more soil/compost.

I think my tomato stalks are a bit bigger than yours Suz. Just appears like it, and the fact that you said yours need to be tied up. Mine are standing straight up. Not sure why. My tomatoes look better this year than they have in the past.

I didn't get new bales this year. Kept last years and just "beefed" them up. Only have fertilized once. Lotsa rain, but they did need water today. I have also only watered twice since planting 2 weeks ago.

I started mine from seed. But they weren't this big and thick stalks when I planted them. I had had them out on the deck since about the first of May 'cause I up-potted them into gallon pots and didn't have room in the house. So they were pretty much hardened off. It has been an exceptionally cold winter and spring here. First day in the 70s was today.

Oh my lord- we have a heat wave last week - in the low 90sfor 5 days, and then again yesterday and today was in the 80s . . mine are nice and sturdy, but will eventually need tieing- only the first 2 bales/6 plants need it now.

Yes, mine will eventually need tying. Probably in a week or two. I would think they were pretty sad if they didn't.

And, yes, a lot of the country has been in a heatwave. But us and probably a few others.

We have been hot and lots of rain has come our way. Ditches have water still sitting in them and we are expecting more storms tonight and the rest of the week. As soon as the swamp land dries up a bit so we can walk to the bales instead of using a paddle boat (wink) I will take a pic of those tomatoes. Sure would like to know how many green bean plants are in each of those bales. I am already making a list for next year :)

Connie

LOL, Connie, put new bales (early ones) at the top of your list.

Jeanette

LOL!!! Yep... #1 on my list :)

Connie

where did Toby go? You know, I feel so bad, we just kind of took over his thread. Toby, are you out there, and how are you and your garden doing? So sorry. Sometimes events take over. I know that is no excuse.

Lets hear from you.

Jeanette

I hope we didn't lose Toby. Come on in Toby, the weather is fine.

Think about it and check in your area Connie, maybe you will want to try hay like Suz and some others have done. I tried and didn't like what I got. But, could have been the stuff I got too. It was Orchard Grass Hay. Never get that.