[rowlandwells]

I was reading the other day about a product for organic gardening called strulch sounds ok a little pricy and like many new products I like to ask other's if they have used it and I
think Il hold on and see if any of our members have used it and how they rate

[Kleftiwallah]

Straw mulch I presume?

Cheers,  Tony.

[JayG]

Reviews elsewhere seem quite positive but it's hard to be objective about virtues like not containing weed seeds (not everyone's home made compost is full of weed seeds ()), and its value as a slug deterrent probably depends on local conditions to some extent.

Any mulch is no doubt better than no mulch - at the end of the day it probably comes down to whether you have your own home made compost for mulching and/or are prepared to pay quite a high price for the potential extra benefits of Strulch.

[moose]

Beechgrove Gardens did a trial with it and found it very good, but is is pricey.

[rowlandwells]

that's what I thought a bit pricey I'm thinking  about buying a good garden shredder and shredding  my own  straw  and like Mum said straw mulch I presume  I'm just pondering what to add to the straw mulch as a mix  I know a good quality shredder would set me back around £150 to £200 + a bale of straw have to think about it 




 

[Grubbypaws]

Strulch is expensive but I highly recommend it. I grow all my potatoes in containers and I use the Strulch as a topping to prevent weeds and slugs and it seems to work very well. When I harvest the potatoes I keep the Strulch and re-use it in the garden in spring. After weeding it gets put around fruit trees, gooseberry bushes, cordons, and rhubarb. By the third year it has become an excellent soil conditioner.

[rowlandwells]

that's well worth knowing Grubbypaws  because I had thought about trying strulch and from what your saying its proven to work for you as I said in my last reply I was thinking about shredding straw and adding something with the straw as a trial because I like the idea that the strulch keeps the slugs and weeds at bay 


was thinking of adding either  6X or well rotted horse manure as a mix with the shredded straw all  depends if the garden budget will stretch to a new good brand shredder 

[jezza]

hi it is chopped straw treated with sulpate of ammonia(wear gloves ) it does keep slugs down but burns plants off if put to close I did borbers in a garden last year one bag 150litre did 3square yards 500 square yard border work out the price plus 9.99bagplus£22per bag delivery cheaper if a pallet load is bought not recommended to dig in for 3 years wont be using it again using own made compost and leaf mold  jezza

[rowlandwells]

that's very interesting  Jezza to find out what strulch contains and the effects of burning the plants although it has its uses as far as slugs are concerned and its a bit expensive for 1 bag but at that price it makes me think about making something of  my own


at present I am using horse manure down the planted rows as a trial to see if that works Il keep you posted how it works out