straw shooter?

[blindstar]

This spring I will need to seed a large area around our new house and barn. I would like to find a better way to spread straw over the seeded area. I have a L2185 snow blower on my L4330. How bad an idea would it be to try and turn it into a straw shooter?

 

[Soundguy]

We use comercial hay blowers to spread hay or straw over ditch swales afer we seed them.. then we roll them, etc.

How would you feed the straw/hay into the blower, while driving around directing the chute to the proper area?

Soundguy

 

[blindstar]

This is a very uncooked idea. I was thinking in terms of some kind of gravity feed hopper fabricated to attach to the front of the blower. Maybe the right idea is to see if I can rent a hay blower.

 

[rdln]

For a one time deal just get a bunch kids to shake it. I think it takes about 60 bales per acre shaken.

chopped and blown straw will be blown by wind easier if now asphalted or crimped into ground.

 

[KubotaSteve]

We used an old chipper shredder and it worked pretty good, but you did have to keep moving the chipper.

 

[johan3400]

do you already have the straw? If this is a one time shot, maybe consider a pellet mulch. Penn Mulch and Straw Net are two products I am experienced with. They work well and can be spread with a 3pt spreader. They minimize the risk of wind damage and are easy for one person to spread.

 

[DocHeb]

We used the paper mush mulch that hydroseeders use. It cost $450 per 15000 sq feet to have them spray it, and was sprayed in late fall. Had a sudden freeze, and never got much germination, but there was NO erosion of our hillsides over the entire winter, and the grass came up nicely in the spring.

 

[blindstar]

Thanks for all the ideas. How I need to do some research one what is available in my area. I appreciated the help.

 

[PineRidge]

When the wife and I seeded this place we rented a straw blower. I put it on a trailer and slowly pulled it with the tractor which the wife drove, I had one guy feeding the bales, and I worked the discharge. Things were quick and efficient and the rental cost was cheap. This is probably the best route to take if you have a large area to cover.

 

[LoganWildman]

If it is a one time deal, then rent a straw blower from a local rental yard. You can hand shake, but it is impossible to get uniform coverage. You can figure 1 bale to 400-500 sq ft depending on how thick you apply it. Around here the blowers you rent are already on a small trailer, which is very convienent. Just load your pickup with bales of straw, and pull the blower behind it. If the blower has a chute, then you could get by with one person, but you'll be a busy person because you'd have to move the truck, load the bales into the blower, feed it and direct the direction of discharge. On a job site, I typically use 3 with that type of blower, 1 to drive, 1 to load straw and one to feed and direct the discharge. If you rent one with a discharge hose, then you'll need one extra person.
There is also 2 types of blowers, 1 lets you drop the entire bale in and chops the strings and all, and with the other more common type you take the strings off, and feed it in one flake at a time. Believe it or not, I think the later type has a higher feed rate and does a better job. The beauty of a blower is uniform coverage resulting in better germination, and lower bale usuage.