On 7/2/2015 3:26 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
songbird wrote:
today i went out and rinsed off the plants. we'd
had a pretty heavy downpour the other day and the
plants were almost all covered in dirt (both the tops
and bottoms of the leaves). some of the seedlings
looked like little dirt pegs sticking out of the
ground. the sun is out now and a nice breeze has
come along. by looking around you wouldn't think
that anything had happened.


songbird

The co-op here finally got some straw in this week and Tuesday 4 bales
followed me home . Yesterday I had a little job to do , but today ... there
are now 3 bakes of straw spread as a weed deterrent mulch around and between
the plants . My biggest problem is the grass , don't know what kind it is
but it sure will take over if I let it . A nice thick layer of straw
smothers it out , makes life much easier for me .
The only concern I have is that I wonder if the decomposing straw has an
effect on the nitrogen in the soil ... and if I need to use a nitrogen
supplement to balance that .

What type of straw Terry? If you want to look it up insert this phrase
into a Google search: the effect of decomposing (type) straw on soil
nitrogen

Lots of info on the net about your problem but is better seen if you
know the variety of straw.

I've used rice hulls, rice straw, oak leaves, pine needles, etc. as
mulch and a weed deterrent and all of them used up a significant amount
of available nitrogen. I always added a a nice amount of N to the soil
and mulch.