This one is about to ink-out!
I haven’t planted anything in the straw bales yet, but something is growing! I have a big crop of mushrooms growing in straw bales. The mushrooms are growing in one bale and a smaller crop of grass is popping out of some of the other bales. Both of these are expected events, though still a bit surprising to see mushrooms growing in straw balesI The mushrooms are “inky cap mushrooms,” which are mushrooms that dissolve into a black goo after a day or so — I noticed the goo pretty heavily on one of the bales.
One bale is covered with mushrooms.
Cornell University’s mushroom blog has an interesting post on inky caps and their tendency to destroy themselves. In addition to sprouting mushrooms and grass, the bales are definitely heating up and I expect to be planting them out within a week or so.
I’m excited to follow your adventures in hay bale gardening–I can’t believe the temp was up to 100 degrees. Wowsa!
I’m buying a straw bale today. I’ve had grass growing in some, but not mushrooms. I get mycelium growing in my wood chip mulch though.
Hello again 🙂 I posted a few weeks ago and thought I would check back in. I finally resolved to cover my 8 straw bales in plastic to help heat them up. I left the plastic on for a little over a week and when I took it off it was steaming. I never had the chance to actually measure their temperature but everything I had read said it would take 10-14 days with the method I used. I didn’t plant them until close to 30 days and finally started planting them this week. I laughed when I read your post though! I had several bales that turned into chia pets with grass like wheat sprouts and when I removed the plastic I had one that looks just like your picture with the mushrooms. I was totally shocked! I will say the wheat sprouts died off with the plastic on them and the mushrooms died in a couples days. (I pulled a lot of them manually too). My boyfriend started seeds this year but they haven’t turned out very well, so, out of of the 4 bales that I have planted so far – 3 have been seeds. I planted lettuce, cucumbers, and green beans with seed. I planted 3 tomato starts in the 3rd. (not sure if that is to many! this is my first attempt) I want to start my peppers from starts so I will probably do that this week. Not sure what I will do with the remaining 3. herbs maybe? Good luck to you! I look forward to reading how it all turns out 🙂 I will try and post pic’s of mine as they start sprouting. How exciting! lol
Beth — Glad things are moving along. I found that covering the bales with plastic does really fire up the decomposition. I’ve planted some zinnia seeds, a few tomatoes and potatoes in my bales. We’ll see how they do! The biggest advantage I’m seeing so far is that it’s tricky for the rabbits to get at the bales, so they are not bothering them. Good luck with your bales!
I said I would post some pics so I thought I would uphold my promise but it doesn’t look like I can on the reply… 🙁 Mine are doing pretty well.
I hope yours are going well!!! Can’t wait to hear an update. Those darn inky cap mushrooms are sprouting crazy just about every morning when I go out to check on the bales. They are worse on the ones that I planted seed and the ones I have not planted yet. My tomato bales only gets a few!
I am doing my first straw bale garden this year and I too got the mushrooms and the grassy chia pet LOL I wanted to put pictures but can’t seem to figure out how.
Well Im glad to hear that Im not the only one with these nasty gooy mushrooms all over the place. I too get them every morning more and more. Pretty weird. that I only have just now one or two on my tomato bale. Does anyone know if they are ok growing with everything? Should I leave them? Pull them? Ive been doing a little of both. I really would just like to know how to get rid of them. Oh and mine look like chia pets too. But… I have 6 bales and I have watermelon, strawberries, 3 different kinds of tomatoes, pumpkins, 3 different kinds of peppers, cucumbers, red potatoes, peas, green beans, lettuce, carrots, and green onion and they are loving the bales, this is my first time so Im hoping they all turn out great!
Nikki — Don’t worry about the mushrooms. They are harmless to your plants. (I don’t know if they are edible, so don’t eat them.) Just leave them alone and they will die out on their own. The chia pet look may mean you have weeds in your bales or the straw in them is actually hay — clean wheat straw should not produce a lot of weeds. If it really gets out of control, you could trim it, but it shouldn’t harm the vegetables either. Glad the bales are working out for you!
I have grass growing in my straw bales. I was told they were straw, I am afraid that they are hay bales….. any ideas how to get rid of it? Is there a spray that will not harm my veg. plants? Any help is better than what I have. thanks!
Don’t bother to spray the bales — that will do more harm than good. If the bales are really hairy, you can trim the grass off with a shears. Otherwise, leave it alone, follow the protocol for conditioning the bales and plant your plants. They should still do OK. Good luck!
Hi! We have some straw bales that have grass growing in them, which is a new thing for us. I took out some of the grass from the bale, and it looks like it’s growing from a wheat stalk? Does that mean it’s wheat grass? My mother is worried about weeds growing in the garden from the straw; is that something to worry about when we put down a layer of the grass-growing straw beneath the plants? Like I said, this is a new thing for us! It’s fascinating. My horse tried to devour the grass from my hand. Apparently it’s tasty stuff…
I’ve never heard of straw bale gardening, but it sounds like it’s worth looking into!
Thanks a bunch!
Katie — If it is wheat straw (that’s the best kind), it could be wheat growing. It also could be a grassy weed. It depends on how clean the straw was when it was baled. Most straw-bale gardeners just cut off or pull out any weeds/plants that are not vegetables you planted. Good luck with your bales — it’s way too cold to plant anything here in Minnesota yet!
Inky caps from what Ive read are edible but sometimes can be poisonous and as always you should not eat mushrooms unless you are experienced in identifying them.
what is the sharpest-or best-hand-held tool for slicing grass out of a straw bale,or for cutting a hole in which to put my plant? i tried pulling out the grass but i could not get it all.many thanks!
what is the most effective tool for cutting a hole in a staw bale,or for removing unwanted grass?many thanks!
I just cut the grass with a scissors or shears. For cutting a hole to plant a plant, a sharp trowel works well. Your bale should be conditioned enough that you can get into it with the trowel. If it is too hard, it may need more conditioning time. Good luck!
What kind of mushroom is that in the picture above?
Those are called Inky black mushrooms.
Hi, this is my first attempt at straw bale gardening. I have put in tomatoes, carrots, yellow beans, peas, and onions. All are doing amazing! Here is my question and it may be sort of odd but here it goes: I’m celiac and my garden is in barley straw, will I be able to eat my veggies or was this all for nothing? I’m worried my food will be contaminated by the barley that is growing out of my bales with my veggies. Thanks for any advice!
I have same problem with mushrooms in my straw bale garden… They grow like crazy – every morning they surround mu watermelon plants. I’m thinking to cover it with a paper mulch…
Bob — This question is beyond my pay grade, though I kind of doubt the barley would seep into the vegetables. If you live in an area with a University Extension service, I would contact them. Extension folks know a lot of things and they have access to University resources as well. Best of luck with the garden!
This is our 3rd year Straw Bale Gardening, so we thought we would put in a nice size garden. We have experienced mushrooms like the inky caps with out any problem except when they fall over on a leaf and covers it. The last two years of Tomatoes grew great! This year however, the plants are not doing as well 🙁 the Tomatoes are all about 1′ tall, flowering and some w/ fruit! All the different veggies we put in are stunted and turning yellow 🙁 we use well composted horse manure tea for our fertilizer. How much is too much? Can’t seem to find this info! Help!!!
Yellowing can be caused by all sorts of issues: too much water, not enough water, too much nitrogen, not enough nitrogen. Have you had a lot of rain? That could cause the manure tea to be diluted. Here’s a university post on manure that might be helpful: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/orgmatter/#manures
Let me know how the harvest goes.
will gardening in straw bales work in arizona? my soil is too hard to woe
work so i’d love to try this but i’m wondering if our heat will be too
much on top of the bale’s own heat?
That’s a good question. I know that straw bales have been used successfully in California. Here’s another southwest gardener who uses straw bales. http://thedirtioccupy.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-amazing-straw-bale-garden.html This person suggests planting your bales where they get some afternoon shade. I think that makes sense given the heat you would normally get. Lots of watering, too! Remember straw bales are basically a container garden, so what you would do with containers would apply here, too. Best of luck!
thank you for the link to the california gardener. very enjoyable write-up and beautiful pictures. I guess all I can do is give it a whirl. I know people are successful with growing vegetables out here so being planted in a bale should not make much difference. I’m originally from wisconsin so this whole desert thing is a brand new concept to me. Thanks again
I haven’t planted my straw bales yet ”still conditioning them” but not happy about all the grass coming out. I was told to pour vinegar diluted w/water on it. Any other fixes?
lots of grass in my yet unplanted straw bales. Someone recommended vinegar water to kill it. Any ideas?
I’ve heard of this problem before with people planting strawbale gardens. It may be the straw you got had lots of weeds in it. I would not use vinegar. That might change the acidity of the bed itself. You could just cover the bale with plastic to heat it up and smother the grass. Check out Joel Karsten’s website: http://strawbalegardens.com/ for more tips.
I bought 11 bales here in Arizona in March with the intention of using them to supplement my three 5 by 20 raised beds.
I planted two in the shade of Citrus and Oleander for peppers and tomatoes. They are progressing slowly as expected because they only get a little light. But I am hopeful that they will still be slowly growing when it gets up to 120 degrees here.
Planted two sets of four bales in an I beam configuration in the hottest part of the back yard.. Two side by side and one at each end.
I have a tomato in each doing OK. Four tomatillo going crazy. Iranian tomatoes doing well from seed. Hopefully they will withstand the heat like the Iranian desert. Have Melons, cukes, watermelons, summer and crookneck squash, and an Eggplant.
They all started slowly and are doing a lot better since I started sprinkling 7am and 7pm for 15 minutes.
The eleventh bale is on the south side of the southern most raised bed and is producing lots of Italian ribbed zucchini and basil.
Trying the bales for the wandering crops to try and avoid the squash beetles that destroyed almost everything apart from the Eggplant last year.
This is my fourth year of urban farming and we are getting a little better every year. We are fortunate to have SRP irrigation water twice a month now that it is getting warmer.
I am getting some kind of evil lurgy that grows at an alarming rate until I scrape it off then it goes away. It is like a bubbly soft slime that rises up on top of the bale and will surround any leaves in it’s path, and it spreads about 6 inches a day. Any ideas what it might be and how to prevent it?
Dave, I am completely flummoxed about what the slime might be. Your climate is so different from the one we have in Minnesota that it would be hard to say. If you have a university extension service in Arizona, I would ask them. Many states have a Master Gardener help line you can call or a local extension office that might have the answers. Good luck!
I read some of the comments on the “inky black mushrooms”, but I am still curious if it is okay to pluck them out each day?
I prepped my bales, followed all instructions, got my plants in and now everything is turning yellow. I used compost tea as an early fertilizer, and added some granule garden fertilizer in w/the potting mix. Waited a few weeks and added more granule fertilizer. I don’t want to overdue it. I put so much TLC into my bales. I am so frustrated!
What have I done or not done properly? I water the bales, and have had mushrooms sprout so I know the bales have composted properly. I have read so many blogs where others have posted the same yellowing stunted grow issue, yet no one seems to have a response on how to fix it. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have worked so hard and really want this to work.
Here’s the response I gave to another commenter with a similar problem:
Yellowing can be caused by all sorts of issues: too much water, not enough water, too much nitrogen, not enough nitrogen. Have you had a lot of rain? That could cause the manure tea to be diluted. Here’s a university post on manure that might be helpful: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/orgmatter/#manures
My guess, given the prepping process for straw bales, is the problem is more likely to be too much nitrogen or water rather than too little. Have you posted on the main straw bales site? If not, you might want to ask Joel Karsten. He is trained in agriculture/horticulture (I’m a writer and gardener, not a horticulturist). Here’s the contact page for his site: http://strawbalegardens.com/contact-joel
Good luck!
Let me know how the harvest goes.
I have mushrooms come up in my bales basically every day (especially after rain). I know this is a good sign of decomposition, however, some of the small seeds that I had sown (carrots, endive) did sprout and the mushrooms that came up displaced the sprouts and now they are gone. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?
My hay bales have piles of some substance that seem to have been coming up from the inside of my hay bails. For lack of a better description, it looks like puréed cat vomit. There are piles spread throughout the tops of my bails. Any thought on what this might be?
That’s a new one, Pam! It could be some kind of fungus or mushrooms but I’m not sure. Are the bales saturated enough or maybe over saturated?
I have that too.
Just scrape it off very carefully and put in the trash can. Be sure to clean the scraper very well.
Hello,
I know the best method is to use straw BUT I had ruined some hay bales this year & can’t feed them. Would it be possible to use the hay bales & cover them in weed barrier to prevent the seeds from germinating? I’m afraid that plastic will keep them too hot or do you just use plastic for a short time? Then the seeds will be killed & it’s a done deal?
Also, would it be worth it to transfer my pepper plants into a conditioned bale? It’s already August here in OH & they have struggled in our soul. Thank you 🙂
Robin — I used the plastic to warm the bales in spring in Minnesota, so getting too hot wasn’t a problem. Definitely try moving the pepper plants. You might want to add a bit of potting soil to the hole in the bale, too. Good luck!
Hi Guys,
Just an update on my eleven Mesa, Arizona bales:
Radishes grow like crazy in the spring.
Once the heat takes over starting in late May then the plants start to suffer, just as they do in the raised beds. My bales have continued to decompose and are now about half their original height and totally decomposed in the centers.
I got a pretty good crop of tomatoes out of the bales but not as good as the raised beds. Maybe I should have continued to give them more fish fertilizer.
Dave — Fertilizer is a good idea. You might be able to get a fall crop of something given how decomposed your bales are. Thanks for the report. M
This is my first year for straw bale gardening. I conditioned my bales for 14 days, watering every day, and fertilizing with organic fertilizer every other day. It was difficult to make the hole for bedding plants, but I found a sharp metal trowel at Home Depot that made the job much easier. I do have mushrooms growing out of the sides of the bales, and in at least one spot on top, a goey yellow something or other. The main problem so far is an infestation of tiny little bugs…maybe tiny gnats, as they seem to fly a bit. I sprayed insecticide soap, but ave not checked today to see if it helped. Anyone else have a bug problem?
Little gnats or seem to like the decomposition. I jus sprayed some diluted Diatomaceous Earth on everything so we’ll see if it helps. The plants have a little indication of being eaten but nothing they can’t handle at least as of yet.
My straw bale gardening is going great except for the dang mushrooms! How can I plant seeds when the mushrooms sprout up overnight and push them right out! Can anyone help? I’m afraid to plant my seeds.
We planted before the mushrooms arrived but now we have plenty of them showing up here and there. They don’t seem to be doing too much to the plants that have sprouted, they are here one day and gone the next. They don’t seem to be too strong in their root system and are there in the morning when I check and gone by afternoon. I wouldn’t worry too much about them unless the entire bale is covered with them.
This is our first year trying straw bale gardening. The veggies plants were looking until the leaves started to get this fungi it has destroyed the Casaba melon. Is there anything to prevent and make sure the other plants are affected.
We put our bales up on pallets that are in turn sitting on the ends of cut off telephone poles because I have problems with my back and can’t get down on the ground or even bend over for extended periods and the bales are working for us. Going to plant them this weekend and put up a plastic tent over just in case it gets cold again. It is a bit early here in Maine but this spring has ben so warm already we don’t want to waste the nice weather.
I usually just scrape the fungus off and throw it in the trash. Then clean the trowel very carefully to prevent more fungus spreading. The mushrooms just die in the sunlight with no apparent ill effects.
With reference to the difficulty planting in the bales – I put my 2016 ten summer bales flat on the long side in two parallel groups of five and separated them with 2x8x16 red pavers. Then filled the gaps with compost. Unfortunately conditioning this set effectively created a huge compost pile that did not cool down for weeks until we got our third flood irrigation. Fortunately the idea paid off in spades as the sixteen one gallon tomato pots were so easy to plant between the bales. I think that the tomato roots spread out into the bales on either side of the bales. The zucchini and squash do well in the middle bales and the watermelon and cucumber do well on the end bales. I am harvesting about ten pounds of tomatoes a day, actually running out of neighbors.
My Bales have been doing great , except for tiny flying insects all over ,it’s very discouraging.I have followed every step and used organic fertilizer.My plants are being destroyed .Does anyone know what’s going on.
My pepper and tomato plants started well, but the peppers now have very small leaves, and the tomatoes have black spots on the leaves. I removed affected leaves, and sprayed the plants with a fungicide. We have had lots of rain, so maybe that is the problem.
This is my first attempt at using straw bales. I laid them in one of my raised beds, with landscape fabric underneath. I am in Minnesota as well and comditioned the bales with organic blood meal. As I’ve seen here I really didn’t see much in the way of heat from the bales and just decided to plant. After about two weeks I certainly see the Chia Pet effect in several bales, while some have sparse grass, but I had/have no mushrooms. The extent of planting right now is cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, lettuce and I had an extra cabbage to I through it in. How often should the bales be watered now and is there any need to use fertilizer throughout the season since everything appears to be growing well?
a lot of the “slime ” some of you are experiencing comes from the mushrooms. They decompose into a slimy substance, I’m not sure if that is detrimental to the plants. I tend to pull as much mushrooms as I can, but that does get tiring.
The “grass” growing in your bales is not grass. It is sprouted grain, either oats or wheat that the thresher missed. There is bound to be some left behind when it is stripped off the shaft. Also, there is a big difference between hay bales and straw bales. It’s unlikely someone would sell you a straw bale that turns out to be a hay bale. They look quite different and it would be difficult to get them mixed up.
Michelle, Obviously conditions are different here in Arizona. But I water every day. I do try and fertilize at least every two weeks. The bales are great but most plants eem to want more nourishment here in AZ.
For Sue – sounds like you are dealing with soil, or fungus, gnats. Harmless in theory, except that larvae from the eggs they lay will eat the roots of your plants and destroy them. It takes persistence and determination to get rid of them. I am using vinegar traps and yellow sticky traps for the adults, and a weekly soil drench with BTi to kill off the larvae. Have saved all but one plant (my tomatillo ). Population decreased by 90% this way. Sick of dealing with them, but it was that or lose my ‘crop’. Will cover bales next time I conditon any to see if that cuts down on gnats during composting. Good luck, ang happy gardening!
These inky mushrooms are very interesting indeed! I’ve also heard they are not harmful to any of the plants you’re growing, so I guess you have to deal with them.
I just started nine straw bales, on day six of conditioning and it’s chia time o a lot of the bales..can I still plant in the chia? Will it choke out the plants? Should I try to pull it out?
Chelito — Continue with the conditioning. You may want to trim the weeds that are growing or, if there are not too many, pull them. Make sure the bale has heated and cooled again before planting. Good luck!
What do you think of the idea of using my weed burner to burn them after I soak the bales down. Let them roll a bit and then do that.
I’m not sure fire is a good idea around stawbales. Have you checked out Joel Karsten’s books on strawbale gardening? He’s much more of an expert than I am.
I’ve read and reread his book a few times. He really hardly mentioned the possibility of having straw with seeds in it. Tell you the truth, I gave up. My bales are totally full of oat seedlings . The bottoms are matted with roots. I finally just cut them out and am getting a different source for my straw and seeing if that will work. I think it’s a problem more common than he thinks.
I agree it is a more common problem than people think. The source of your bales should know what kind of straw the bale i and whether it is “clean” straw. It sounds like you got oat straw with a lot of seeds still in it.
I had very little trouble with grass last year. Got my straw bales from the same place this year, and I have lots of grass. I pulled some of it, but this takes a lot of tge bale with it. They must have changed the source from which they purchase staw.
i usually get my bales from Home Depot, and I’ve NEVER had a problem with weeds in my straw.
Thanks, Stefani. I will try Home Depot next time.
I have fresh organic rice straw bales this year. I have the biggest crop of beautiful mushrooms (huge clumps of really meaty and very healthy). They actually have crowded out the plants on all the straw bales. I can’t really grow anything because of the mushrooms heaving up the surface and crowding out the plants. What the heck are these and will they stop of do I just have to give up growing anything useful this year?
Hi Folks. No mushrooms – yet. BUT a huge crop of wheat or barley shoots. Waiting now for a truck load of compost. I have built a raised bed around the bales and plan to cover and surround the bales with compost. I deviated from Joel’s book to allow for my situation: AZ intense heat drying the bales out, flood irrigation washing the straw away, Tomatoes in one gallon pots. I planted the bales in parallel with a one gal pot size gap between them. The gap make sit easy to transplant the tomatoes.
To solve the grass problem: First I will take off the structures and drip system and then use a hedge trimmer to cut the “grass” down. Then cover with compost, then cover with black plastic. Then plant tomatoes between the bales and melons etc in the bales. Any comments would be welcome.
What do I do to the grass growing,on my straw bales, how do I get rid of them, I havnt planted anything,yet, waiting about another week, to make we dont get another cold front, frost
Update on my two raised beds with 4 bales in each planted on their sides with a 6 inch gap between bales filled with compost.
Summary – use black plastic to completely cover the bales until no more signs of grass growing.
My wheat grass grew so profusely that I was forced to use a hedge trimmer to cut it down. Cut a few strings. Pain to repair. Then I tried Joel’s vinegar, dishwasher soap and salt solution brushed on. That worked fine for the seeds that had sprouted. But just as soon as I got rid of the first batch another lot started up. I finally covered both bed areas with black plastic and that stopped the grass. Then I cut holes and planted tomatoes from one gall pots into the compost filled gaps between the bales. The toms did not like the reflected heat from the black plastic. So I covered the black plastic with 2 inches of mulch and the tomatoes are going gang busters. The second set of 4 bales with 8 barrow loads of mulch on top in a 16 inch raised bed with black plastic removed. So far no grass and the toms are thriving. Getting ready to plant summer squash and melons etc in the bales between the tomatoes. Did not have this problem last year, so it must be a bad batch of bales.
Are they safe? Harmful to kids?
I had a huge wheat crop in my bales this year. Tried mowing it. Came right back. Tried vinegar and soap. Came right back. Covered them with black plastic in full sun and REALLY heated them up. Finally got rid of the “grass”.
See my prior post for my “raised bale beds” system.
My primary crop in the 10 bales and compost was tomatoes. Planted 16 plants between the bales in the compost. Got great crops of tomatoes. Planted leeks at the ends of the beds and melons, watermelons and squash on the end bales. The leeks confuse the heck out of the squash beetles and I have not had my usual attack of beetles so far. Great crops of zucchini, crookneck and the water melons and melons are coming along fine. The heat is decomposing the compost around the bales at a very rapid rate. So I have to keep topping up the endge of the beds with compost.
We have the mushrooms coming up. Are they dangerous, do they harm the vegetables, can we eat them, should we pull them? Any advice will be appreciated.
Bob — Do not eat the mushrooms. They will disappear over time and are not harmful to the vegetables growing in your bale. Good luck with your straw bale garden.
First year planting in straw bales. Loving it so far. Out of 12 bales, two from HD have “great” crops of mushroom growing in the tomato, beans and zucchini. The other 10 are from HD and Lowe’s. . Other than a few grass sprout they are doing great in Georgia. Do I need to pull the 2 “mushroom” bales away from other 10? Thanks.
My bales are growing so many mushrooms…not just the inky cap mushrooms. Will the mushrooms choke out my other plants? I have been trying to dig them out every morning, but they just keep coming back. This morning they completely surrounded my bean plants.
They will not choke out your other plants. Have you had a lot of rain? They typically come on if the bales are super saturated and go away when it dries up.
We have not had a lot of rain. Should I continue to dig the mushrooms our or leave them alone?
Has anyone tried cinnamon as a mushroom deterrent on the strawbales? Just curious.
Got a ton on those crazy mushrooms on my strawbales this year. I just let em be. They make things interesting. Only thing is wondering if my chickens will leave em alone. Other than that my garden is growing beautifully. My strawbales might be broke down too much to try and get a fall/winter crop but thats okay. Ive got more bale’s waiting. Maybe Texas wont be so dry this year. So far so good.