Straw bale gardening

[stewfam573]

Good Morning everyone-
I am new here as well as to straw bale gardening. I live in central Missouri, and I have a couple of questions about my vegetable plants that I am hoping someone can help me with. I conditioned my bales as instructed for over 2 weeks and even put some composted horse manure mix on top, and planted my plants on April 17th. I realize me that it was really early to plant, but we never got a hard freeze after I planted just some cooler air and cooler nights. When I planted them I also put in some compost under the roots, with planting soil and the straw that I dug out. I planted seedlings, not seeds. Anyway now in June, 2 of my big boy tomato plants are thriving, 1 of my sugarary cherry tomato plants isn't very big but has blooms and the start of a tomato. When I say not very big I mean it keeps growing new leaves and blooming but won't grow up. My cucumber plants didn't make it at all. My big bertha plants and jalapeño plants are doing so so. They are green and keep growing new leaves but again won't get taller or fuller. A couple have blooms. My zucchini plants are doing good as well as far as growing leaves and blooming. I even pruned off the first buds because the flower was bigger than my leaves of the plant. The leaves are not wilting on any of the plants or turning brown. As far as I can tell I don't have rodents destroying the plants. I haven't over watered as I don't water everyday, and check the bales everyday to make sure they have moisture. Any suggestions on how to help my plants? Should I just let them go and see what happens? Should I side dress with a fertilizer? Any particular kind? I can take pictures later and post if that would help. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks so much, and sorry for the long post.

 

[Tetters]

Well hello @stewfam573 . I just wanted to say welcome to the forums, and noticed that your very interesting question had no answers.
I have never heard of straw bale gardening before, but notice that there are quite a few earlier threads that discuss the subject.
I hope you will find some answers there. I shall be investigating this concept too - it has aroused my inquisitive nature

 

[Tmheldt78]

Good Morning everyone-
I am new here as well as to straw bale gardening. I live in central Missouri, and I have a couple of questions about my vegetable plants that I am hoping someone can help me with. I conditioned my bales as instructed for over 2 weeks and even put some composted horse manure mix on top, and planted my plants on April 17th. I realize me that it was really early to plant, but we never got a hard freeze after I planted just some cooler air and cooler nights. When I planted them I also put in some compost under the roots, with planting soil and the straw that I dug out. I planted seedlings, not seeds. Anyway now in June, 2 of my big boy tomato plants are thriving, 1 of my sugarary cherry tomato plants isn't very big but has blooms and the start of a tomato. When I say not very big I mean it keeps growing new leaves and blooming but won't grow up. My cucumber plants didn't make it at all. My big bertha plants and jalapeño plants are doing so so. They are green and keep growing new leaves but again won't get taller or fuller. A couple have blooms. My zucchini plants are doing good as well as far as growing leaves and blooming. I even pruned off the first buds because the flower was bigger than my leaves of the plant. The leaves are not wilting on any of the plants or turning brown. As far as I can tell I don't have rodents destroying the plants. I haven't over watered as I don't water everyday, and check the bales everyday to make sure they have moisture. Any suggestions on how to help my plants? Should I just let them go and see what happens? Should I side dress with a fertilizer? Any particular kind? I can take pictures later and post if that would help. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks so much, and sorry for the long post.

Welcome to the forums!
I'm on year two of straw bale gardening so I'm definitely not an expert, but I did learn a lot my first year.
Last year I had mixed results, but I saw enough positives that it encouraged me to expand it and try again.
This year, I'm having fantastic results, and I've already harvested more veggies than I did all of last season. The main difference is fertilizer. Every two weeks I have been applying an organic granule fertilizer called Tomato-tone around the base of each plant and watering it in. I also apply some fish emulsion every now and then as well.
I currently have pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli and potatoes thriving in the bales. (Tops of the potatoes look fantastic and are flowering, but I'm not sure what's going on in the bale yet)
Last year I wasn't as diligent about fertilizer, and the plants never got big and didn't produce a lot.
Hope this helps!

Took this pic on June 10th

 

[KarenD10]

Welcome to the forums!
I'm on year two of straw bale gardening so I'm definitely not an expert, but I did learn a lot my first year.
Last year I had mixed results, but I saw enough positives that it encouraged me to expand it and try again.
This year, I'm having fantastic results, and I've already harvested more veggies than I did all of last season. The main difference is fertilizer. Every two weeks I have been applying an organic granule fertilizer called Tomato-tone around the base of each plant and watering it in. I also apply some fish emulsion every now and then as well.
I currently have pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli and potatoes thriving in the bales. (Tops of the potatoes look fantastic and are flowering, but I'm not sure what's going on in the bale yet)
Last year I wasn't as diligent about fertilizer, and the plants never got big and didn't produce a lot.
Hope this helps!

Took this pic on June 10th
View attachment 22523

Do you find that Tomato tone works the best? I grabbed Miracle grow for tomatoes. Also how much fish emulsion do you apply per plant & how often?

 

[TomatoTango]

Straw doesn’t have much in the way of nutrients and I believe it to be more of a planting medium or mulch than total growing material. Manure helps but the bales can use lots. Also compost or something else organic to breakdown helps offset nutrient deficiencies. Top dressing helps too.

What brand fish emulsion are you using? Fish is usually nitrogen heavy. If your plants are big or showing flowers usually you switch to something bloom oriented; phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and other micronutrients. Since they’re in straw I would hit them with something strong and higher quality. Dump the bins in compost at the end of the season to be recycled.

 

[KarenD10]

Straw doesn’t have much in the way of nutrients and I believe it to be more of a planting medium or mulch than total growing material. Manure helps but the bales can use lots. Also compost or something else organic to breakdown helps offset nutrient deficiencies. Top dressing helps too.

What brand fish emulsion are you using? Fish is usually nitrogen heavy. If your plants are big or showing flowers usually you switch to something bloom oriented; phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and other micronutrients. Since they’re in straw I would hit them with something strong and higher quality. Dump the bins in compost at the end of the season to be recycled.

I’m using Miracle Grow for tomatoes. I don’t have fish emulsion-just saw it mentioned in some posts about straw bale gardening. What do you recommend?

 

[TomatoTango]

I’m using Miracle Grow for tomatoes. I don’t have fish emulsion-just saw it mentioned in some posts about straw bale gardening. What do you recommend?

Is the miracle grow in pellets/dry form or liquid soluable? If the miracle grow is in pellets you should get a liquid soluable fertilizer, preferably with micronutrients. There are dozens of good products on eBay, Amazon, or a local gardening co-op. But in straw bales there’s no guarantee anything fixes the issue.