Best way to get rid of (round) bailed hay??

[ponytug]

Basically you got some free mulch/fertility if you garden anything...too bad it's all wrapped up, just going to take some more effort and time to get it how you want it!

I watched a vid where a guy grew potatoes very successfully by simply setting potatoes right on top of a grass lawn. He then covered them with a thin layer of compost, then piled on old spent hay. He hilled them a couple times lightly with mediocre soil then more spent hay.

We used to do this growing potatoes, albeit by first making a trench, tilling the bottom of the trench, planting the potatoes, and putting 8-12" of well rotted hay on top, then the remaining earth, more straw in top. Picking potatoes was a dream, and the yields were fantastic.

Back to Richard's problem:
Personally, I would split the plastic and use a backhoe, or tractor based tool to pull the plastic off. I would spread the remainder as best you can. From your description, you are talking tons of material, and I would be thinking about big, powered equipment to do this. Those bales probably weighed 1000lbs dry, and now perhaps a ton each. If you don't just leave them to slowly rot on the side of the field, then that is going to be a lot of trips with a powerful manure spreader, or zillions of trips with a grapple bucket. If you mix in some nitrogen, it will rot faster, as will getting in there with forks to aerate the piles. If they have any integrity, you can unroll them, but I'm assuming that they are too rotten for that. The more spread out that you can make them, the faster they will mulch. Left in a bale, they will probably persist for a long time.

The pile we had growing up lasted years- it just sat there, shedding rain and snow, with only the outermost layer mulching. We got great mushrooms off of it for years.

Good luck with the piles- sorry for the pill of a tenant.

All the best,

Peter

Some of it would help your wash out, but as it is already mulch, it won't slow the water much. Still, if you can put some pegs in to help hold it in place, it will help.

 

[ovrszd]

Ditch filler. lay them end to end the full length of your ditch or until you use them all.

Farmers give me old bales yearly to use for erosion control in roadside ditches. They work great.

 

[DrRod]

Put an ad in the local paper, bulletin board, etc. and someone will solve the problem for you.

 

[bmaverick]

Basically you got some free mulch/fertility if you garden anything...too bad it's all wrapped up, just going to take some more effort and time to get it how you want it!

I watched a vid where a guy grew potatoes very successfully by simply setting potatoes right on top of a grass lawn. He then covered them with a thin layer of compost, then piled on old spent hay. He hilled them a couple times lightly with mediocre soil then more spent hay.

YES, and it works sooooo fricking good too! That was the couple in near St. Louis. We did the hay thing this year and it was the best potato crop harvest ever !!!!!

So, those old hay bales are worth a mint to garden growers. We also did old hay in raised garden beds for the tomatoes on the trellis. NO WEEDS whatsoever !!!!

People who want round bales usually have them delivered. That's the reason why nobody took them for FREE off CL. Or, they think it's a scam.

Unroll the hay bales where your Spring garden would be. Over the winter they will compost and add good nutrients to the soil.

 

[MF243RedTop]

Ditch filling material, I wouldn't waste my time on anything else.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, I'm leaning on filling the ditch. I need to transport them to it so I'm at risk of them falling apart during transport.... but my loader is about 8' wide so if I can get them in it without falling apart, I should be good. Hoping I can carry up to three at a time but that might be optimistic.

Question: I thought about this (filler) a long time ago but, presumed that as the material decomposes more & more, it would simply be subject to washing away and/or wouldn't offer "support" that filling ditch with dirt would give.

I'm beginning to think this was erroneous thinking..... thoughts?

 

[MF243RedTop]

Pack dirt on top of them and you'll be fine.
Over time you may need to add more
But bales will be gone and ditch filled.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm going to the neighbor's to get 5 big bales that he's giving me. I'll use them for ditch filler. They were baled this year. Junk hay. He just wants rid of them.