HOW TO USE STRAW AS A FERTILIZER

Today, straw as a fertilizer for the garden is used by many farmers.

Let's see what straw is and why its use as a fertilizer is so common?

Description and composition

Straw is dried up stalks of plants without leaves and flowers. It is divided into subspecies depending on what the straw is obtained from. We will not consider all kinds, but we will focus on wheat, barley, oat and pea.

Wheat

Wheat belongs to the family of cereals and is one of the most important plants that are used for baking bread in many countries around the world. The chemical composition of wheat straw includes elements such as magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, sodium, manganese, cobalt, as well as vitamin D and carotene. Wheat also contains vitamins B1-B4, B6 and B9.

Barley

Dry stalks of barley are rich in calcium, fiber, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iodine, iron and sodium. In addition, they have protein, lysine and biologically extract substances.

Did you know? Vitamins and minerals found in barley are better assimilated than in chemical analogs.

Barley contains more protein. Barley culture is rich in vitamins such as D, A PP and E.

Oatmeal

Oats are grown in many countries around the world for both feed and human nutrition. Dry oat stalks contain many nutrients that are good for harvest, such as protein, iron, cobalt, potassium, carotene, and more.

All these substances help the plants get the necessary amount of minerals that are so necessary for the emergence of a good harvest.

Pea

Pea - annual climbing plant. Dry grass from peas is rich in lysine, fiber and protein, it also has many trace elements, such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and others.

In addition, peas are rich in ascorbic acid and vitamins of group B, E, H, PP. Peas are irreplaceable due to the large amount of antioxidants contained in it.

Straw effect

Let's see exactly how straw affects the soil and yield. Consider each item separately.

Organic fertilizers also include pigeon dung, bone meal, fish meal, milk whey, potato peelings, compost, egg shells, banana skins, onion peel, nettle, charcoal.

On the ground

In the soil during decomposition, dried grass turns into simple carbohydrates and protein compounds. Further decomposed into lysine and cellulose. Straw decomposes in the soil the faster, the more nitrogen in the earth.

Therefore, it is better to use this dried grass to enrich the land with nitrogen fertilizers. The proportion is as follows: 10-12 kg per 1 ton of straw. To this mixture decomposed even faster, it is better to add manure to it. This increases the activity of microorganisms, which means that the process of decomposition will begin to flow even more intensively.

On plants

The decomposition of dry grass has a bad effect on the root system of plants, as this results in formic, benzene, lactic, acetic and other acids entering the ground, which prevent the development of the roots in plants.

However, by adding nitrogen to it, the negative effect on plants is eliminated. Due to the large amount of minerals, dry grass decomposes faster, as they are necessary for both microorganisms and higher plants.

The phosphorus content in dry grass is low, so it does not affect the soil as a whole. Let's touch where the dry stems of legumes and cereals are used in their pure form.

Use of pure straw

Cattle are fed with dry herbs. Due to the fact that this product is nourishing, it is given as a top dressing. For better absorption, dry herbs are ground, treated with chemicals (lime, ammonia, etc.) or steamed.

Granulation of straw along with artificially dried grass is also used.

Dry stalks of plants are used for bedding.

They are also good for making mats and slabs. In many museums of our country, straw is used to cover roofs (Pirogovo open-air museum in Kiev).

Another use of dry stems of cereals and legumes is biofuel. They are also pressed into fuel pellets.

Sometimes straw is used to make paper (for example, banana). From it make baskets and nets.

In construction, straw is used to create straw blocks.

In addition, many fashionable women like to wear straw hats. They also make souvenirs from straw. The use of straw is multifaceted, but we will focus on its use in the agricultural industry, that is, the creation of fertilizer from it.

Straw fertilizer preparation

The use of straw as mulch and fertilizer is widely used. Mulching means literally "shelter soil." This is done so that the earth does not overheat, and moisture is preserved on it.

Important! One of the main qualities of straw mulching is the protection of plants against insects and diseases.

In addition, mulching reduces or even blocks weed growth. Also mulch fertilizer increases the amount of organic matter in the soil. The soil structure improves, the earth becomes loose and soft.

Under the influence of the sun and rain, the earth loses a large amount of nutrients, and mulching prevents it. There is also a method: the use of dry grass as a fertilizer.

Before plowing dried stalks of legumes and cereals into the ground, they must be thoroughly crushed. The desired length of crushed dried plants should not exceed 10 cm (75%) and 15 cm (no more than 5%).

Straw as a fertilizer can be used for potatoes, corn, sugar beets, turnips, carrots, pumpkins, zucchini, watermelon.

Before making dry stalks of cereal and leguminous crops contribute nitrogen. It is introduced in the form of urea, green fertilizer or ammonium nitrate at the rate of 1 centner per 1 ha. After that the dried grass is evenly scattered.

It must be remembered that the height of the cut should not exceed 20 cm. Lay dry stems 12 cm deep. After some time, you need to deepen the dried grass into the ground, but you can not do it right away, because it rotters slowly enough. That is why it is necessary for some time to hold the dried grass shallowly buried in the soil.

Good harvest results can be obtained by combining dry plants and sowing green manure. After plowing dry grass, siderats are sown. This gives the soil an additional source of organic matter.

In addition, this fertilizer mineralizes dry stalks of cereals and legumes, which will also affect the quality of the crop.

Important! The use of green mass and straw will favorably affect the harvest of winter crops.

Advantages and disadvantages

And yet, let's see: the straw in the garden brings benefit or harm?

Benefits include:

Availability is in itself dried grass is of no interest in the agro-industry, therefore it is not used, but as a fertilizer it is simply indispensable.
This fertilizer is more pleasant to use than dung.
Spending less time and effort compared to other fertilizers (for example, manure).
Easy to store.
A large amount of organic matter.
Increased earth friability.
Improve soil moisture permeability.
Arable land retains water better, and with it beneficial substances.
Dry grass contains vitamins, physiologically active substances and amino acids.
The carbon saturation of this fertilizer helps to further “breathe” the earth.
Decaying, dry stems contribute extra carbon, due to which green plants grow.
Protection of the earth from the sun.
When using several types of straw increases the number of trace elements, which contributes to the full restoration of arable land.

Negative aspects of using this fertilizer:

Insects can fall into fertilizer, which adversely affect the development and yield of the crop.
Decomposing, dry stalks of cereals and legumes turn into acids harmful for the development of the crop.
Dry grass contains many organic compounds, which require large amounts of water to decompose.
Dried stalks of cereals decompose slowly and because of this beneficial substances will get to the plants for 3-5 years.

Did you know? The content of organic straw exceeds manure 3-4 times.

To prevent the negative impact of the introduction of dried grass, you must:

Apply this fertilizer every year.
Bring dry stalks of cereal plants immediately after harvest.
After the application of cereal fertilizers, it is best to plant legumes or tilled crops.
Always know the measure of making dry grass.
Grind the dried stems of plants and evenly distribute on arable land, so it quickly rot and will give more benefits.
Add nitrogen and black earth along with dried grass stems, so the rate of decomposition of straw will increase by 30%.