Has anybody tried strawberries in straw bales?

Has anybody tried strawberries in straw bales?

Hey there Aramblinrose! I am trying Strawberries. this is my first attempt at Strawbaling. so we will see how it goes! So far My little plants are really doing well.
I am experimenting with just a few plants right now but I am considering putting in a few more.

I planted strawberries last year and they did great. I didn't do a thing with them all year and now, this year they are doing magnificent. I will take a picture and let you all see. I just had some compost delivered and then delivery man was going nuts about my strawbale strawberries. I guess the second year makes all the difference. This is a picture from last year.

Okay, here is this years crop so far. Lots of blossoms. That is a good sign.

One more view

Gourdbeader: those bales look like they barely changed since last year. What type of straw did you use?

We love strawberries, so now I'm going to have to allocate some bales for that, too, next year! :-)

I used wheat straw bales as they produce the least amount of seed. They appear to not have changed but up close they have broken down alot. The ones on the far right that don't have the strawberries have lots of mushrooms coming up so I know that means that they are breaking down and making lots of good mulch for next year. ummm....

OK, in the pics the bales just looked so squared up compared to mine from last year.

Well, I guess I just baby mine more. I haven't done anything special to them but they are fairly protected in the yard. My little furry four legged friend makes sure that they are watered regularly . Maybe that is what has preserved them. heheh
I just lined them up three to a row with the twine on the ground like you told me to. I just bought some good compost yesterday and it looks like black gold. I am going to put a little on top of the bales for extra nutrients and the rest is going into my flower bulb bed. I have a bunch of mushrooms coming out of one row of the bales. I think that is a good thing right? It won't hurt any herbs or food plants that I put in there will it?

Mushrooms + bales = good growing

Im trying strawberries-in fact they are the first ones that went into the bales. ..... the very first bales , in my very first food garden....ever. They seem to be happy. I have 12 blooms.

Here is my strawberries so far. Loads of berries on plants. Can't wait till they are ready.

One more view. Harvest time will be good this year.
Kent, I am wondering now though, these bales will need to be replaced next year. What should I do about my strawberry plants? Should I just let them winter in the old bales and dig them out next year when I restructure my garden bales?
Jan

so they just grow in the straw? no soil?? How about the dog "watering"....is that healthy??

Gourd, it appears that you're using something to kill the grass around the row of bales. It looks so much "cleaner" that way. I have grass growing right up to the bales and it looks so messy. What are you using, if you don't mind me asking.

yes, I did use a little round up at the base of the bales and I weed eat right up to them, or I should say my gardener weed eats right up to them. Give credit where credit is due.
As far as the dog watering he isn't that tall so I don't worry about that but they get washed out every day and I did add a little mulch to the top of the bales as the strawberries seem to appreciate it and produce more. Why argue with a good thing?

So you just basically put th strawberry plants on top of th straw bales with some mulch around the roots?? Hck I could do that!
I wonder what else could be grown that easil in a bale of straw Guess I could pull out a section of straw betweeen the , keeping the bales intact and put some soil in for a few other plants too. What do you think? Peppers or Tomatoes??
BTW - I have a short dog also ^_^ (Min Poodle)

Well, you do need to create a hole in the straw and then place the strawberry plant in the hole. New bales are fairly difficult to cut into and I have no good ways of getting around it other then to say what ever works for you. I tried a sharp knive and cut into the straw. Then I used a wedge and opened it up a little more and then once I got the plant in I added a little extra potting soil or mulch around the berry plant. This year the bales are great. They have broken down nicely and I can just dig into them with a garden spade. The new ones are a bit of a challenge though. You can pretty much plant anything except root crops in the bales. If you are planting seeds you need to add soil as the seeds will drop down into the straw. There is a wealth of info on the strawbale forum if you check it out. Thats where I got started. I had a great crop of sugar snap peas last year so I planted those again. I planted those from seed so I did add soil to the top of the bale.

We had a hay barn when I grew up and we had a tool we called a hay bale plugger. It was used to cut a plug about 2 inches in diameter into the center of the bale to insure that the bales were properly cured. Farm supply business's may still sell these tools.

That tool is called a Eufaulatum here in Strawbale land! :-)

I didn't know that. But of course us old east Texas boys didn't know very many of those highfaluting words like Eufaulatum. I dont feel so embarrased though after I "googled" it up. LOL

http://www.google.com/search?q=Eufaulatum&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

This message was edited Jun 1, 2009 9:26 PM

Oh My Gosh! I googled Eafaulatum too!!! tooooooooooooo funny. Believe me its only a wine bottle!..but it does work!

That wine bottle trick sure does work well! Kudos to Eufaula!

Thank You..Thank You Very Much!!! Be sure to try my handy dandy "Sockituem"also, for all you r pest problems! LOL!!

Jaywhacker: that is SO FUNNY about the google search. LOL!

Eufaula,
I used the Sockituem (sock) method of dusting plants 30 years ago filled with flour and cayenne pepper... there just isn't a better way to apply the stuff!!

But my hats off to ya over the wine bottle trick, lol!!

Yep, Sundownr, Ive been using this method for sometime now, handed down from my Dad from his Mama, I remember Grandma spreading Cotton dust in an old cotton sock.

Hi all.
Gourdbeader, last year I used a short piece of stick I had around and just twisted the
old bales tight. They ended up a little shorter but they held their shape pretty good all season.
I guess you could do the same for any loose bales you might have.
His grateful servant, Paul.
A boat under construction.

That was a big tree . digger

Thanks lonejack but I am afraid that this is their last year. They are so broke down its almost like mulch. If I were to twist it like you say it would just cut the bale in thirds. I really like the mulch factor as they are very easy to plant in this year. I will have to buy more so that they will be ready next spring. I could probably do some winter planting in them just to make use of them now.
Not knowing you, is that you digging out the canoe? That is truely impressive if it is. Wow!
Jan

Hello Gourdbeader, and Oregon neighbor!
I'm interested in what you grew last winter in the bales and how did it work out?
GG

Well, since it was my first try I didn't do alot but I had a bumper crop of sugar snap peas, strawberries and herbs. I really want to do more in the herb field as I use alot and would like to do more preserving if I can. My strawberries are going great guns this year. I will need to transplant next year I am afraid as the bales are really beginning to break down. Good mulch for my bulb beds.

I'm going to try to get a rolled bale delivered this year to compost for sweet and regular taters and some other goodies for next years crop . digger

Gourdbeader-did you grow all of those in the winter? You must live in the southern part of Oregon : )

I planted those strawberries last year and did nothing to them throughout the winter and they came back with a vengence. I have loads of new little berries and I can hardley wait. I am going to plant some rhubarb so I can have that next year too. I love strawberry rhubarb pie and so does hubby. I do think that it is time to do a lemon merange (sp) though. That is turely his favorite. I have made about 4 srawberry/rhubarb pies so far this summer and it is time for a change.

Gourdbeader
No, I'm the guy taking the picture. The guy standing there is an Agronomist/Veterinary Technician my church supports in Haiti. We came upon this guy doing this work on the way to our village of Les Anglais, Haiti.
This is the primary fishing boat used in most of Haiti.
Here is another picture of a similar boat on the beach at Les Anglais.
Paul.

Lonejack , do you happen to know what kind of wood those boats are carved from ? The hills look mighty bare of that large a tree and another note , either one of those pictures would make a beautiful painting .digger

green-green, no I live in Toledo on the Oregon coast outside of Newport about 6 miles inland so we don't get the coastal weather so much and is alot less windy and a little warmer also. Everything grows well around here especially the stuff I don't want to grow like the grass and weeds and slugs. The grass is okay and is very pretty and green but I can hardly keep up with it. The gardeners that do the mowing for me want to charge me double in particular months of the year when they need to mow the yard twice to get the same results or mow every week vs every other week. At $45 a wack it gets a little pricey but my DH only gets one day a week off and half of the time it is raining during that day so it goes to the next week and so on and so on. Then the fact that the mower has been replaced twice has made up our minds to let some one else do it. Its worth it to me as I can't do it and it has to be cut.
Here are my strawberries as of today and the grass keeps growing. heheh

Beautiful !digger

Lonejack, i should have known that as I think I remember communicating with you in the past when I was living in Tombstone, AZ. I was Tombstonejan then. Had to change that as the name no longer fit the person or location. Guess I shouldn't go for location names but I don't plan on leaving this area any time soon.That is truely an impressive canoe. How long did it take them to carve that out?