tell me the difference, please

From what I've read and what I mean to accomplish, I've decided to use straw as mulch. So... the stupid question is... (drumroll, please) is there a difference between hay and straw? Can I use either?

Thank you. I know someone on here will know.

Yes, there is a difference.

Hay is usually dried alfalfa (it could be timothy, clover or something else edible for the animals). When its harvested, its baled whole with whatever weeds and seeds were growing in the field. Alot of people stay away from hay because it contains alot of seeds...that they don 't want growing in their garden.

Hay can be composted... but you really need to make sure that its thoroughly decomposed and aged to prevent weedlings.

Straw is the hollow stocks from left over after processing of grain, typically wheat (but it could be another grain). Because the wheat has been combined to harvest the grain, there will be few seeds in the straw. Straw is what is left of the wheat after the grain has been harvested.

From a farming standpoint, hay is food, straw is bedding (not food). Straw can be eaten but its not very nutritious.

From a composting standpoint, both hay and straw can be good compost ingredients. If you cold compost and do not do alot of turning; then straw is a better choice. If you are a hot composter, either one is fine.

From a mulch standpoint, straw is probably better than hay. But if you don't mind seeds in your mulch then it doesn't matter.

Spoken like a true farmer.

My hat's off to you, joepyeweed, and thank you. I'll use straw most definitely.

Now, where does one usually get straw?

Brigidlily: Ya get straw at a feed store. Where do you get your chicken feed? If they do not carry it then they should know whats close buy.

Tried to google online for you but do not now your area well enough to know what is closest to you.

What I like to do is build a cold frame out of them, then when I am done with it (the cold frame) (usually the area where the cold frame was the ground is warmer and thats where I stick my tomatoe plants in) then I use the straw for mulch. Doubt you have much use for a cold frame, but for others in colder climates, I thought it might be of interest.

Off topic, but how is your chicken tractor holding up?

MeanQueenNadine

I'm in Phoenix so I don't really need a 'cold frame' either but I like the look of the compost pile framed in straw bales. Then after I've turned the compost I'll sprinkle some straw on top. Again, I just think it looks nice and tidy.

I have also used straw as mulch and was very happy with the results. When it's rainy (not often here unfortunately) I will put some of the straw along the muddy pathways to soak up some of the mud. Then it just breaks down in the soil eventually.

My DH does not like the mess of straw in the back of his truck, in the street when we unload it to the wheelbarrow, etc. Otherwise, it's a great composting assister.

My two pennies.
Mary

I feel I must clarify, I am not a farmer.

But I went to school in a place where my parents were the only parent's who weren't farmers.
I spent summers on my uncle's farm, helped on the weekends during harvest season and detassled corn for money when I was young. Most of best friends make their living farming.

I know a bit about farming, but I am not a farmer. I would like to be a farmer, but I am too lazy. Its a lot of work.

The best place to get straw is from discarded halloween displays. Though you are little too late for that. You go to a business that had a nice big halloween or thanksgiving display and you offer to dispose of the display for them. The pumpkins and corn stalks are good for the compost pile. I stack the free bales next to my compost pile and use it as browns throughout the summer.

The next best place to get straw is from a farmer who has sign up that says "straw for sale".

JPweed you are making me laugh. It is 2am here in Anchorage and I am working at an all night emergency clinic. I needed a laugh. You can get straw next to the highway where there is road construction. They use it to keep soils from moving. Probably best to do at night. LOL I live in Montana and there are millions of straw bales everywhere. Wheat is a big product here.

Straw is generally waste matter from grain crops, and low in nitrogen; hay is grown as animal feed and is ideally high in nitrogen. Few people grow grains where I live (north Florida), and a lot raise horses or cattle, so hay is easy to find here if not always cheap, straw much harder.

Straw makes a better mulch because it's low in nitrogen and seeds: slower to rot, fewer weeds. I suspect that straw used for animal bedding here has to be trucked in. Straw also is great for insulating perennial plants against cold -- not usually necessary in Florida -- and as it doesn't rot too quickly it's less likely to cause those perennials to rot too.

Hay (or straw with animal wastes in it) would rot better in or out of a compost heap what with the nitrogen, but there's the seed problem (here, horse manure would provide the seeds in straw). Spoilt hay (partly rotten, contaminated with toxic weeds like dog fennel) is sometimes available here too. I need to get a trailer for my little RAV4 (little: I'm used to a Suburban or at least an Explorer) and start hauling malodorous stuff to compost...

Mark., you can grow barley here over the winter but the deer ravage it, so nobody does except to attract deer

My chicken tractor is still just a frame at the moment, I'm embarrassed to admit.

My soil is so bad (the builders just filled the holes in the pure clay with sand, where they had removed trees) that I HAVE to do something about it. I'm planning on putting a series of raised beds in the back yard, and I want to make pathways between them with straw. I don't want permanent paths at least at the moment, and I think straw would start the amending process. At least I hope so. If I get any good results, I'll post pictures. But I've already made the mistake of hurrying up to get gardens planted and I want to take at least a year to do the layering in the beds while starting on the areas in between by putting the straw between the beds.

Trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time...