By Kent Rogers| March 2007

• Intro
• Preparing for Planting
• How Many Plants Per Bale?
• Final Tips
• About Kent Rogers
• Download the FULL article as a

Preparing for Planting

You’ll want to set your plants after all danger of frost has passed, and it takes at least 10 days to prepare your bales for the plants. I will report here what I did to prepare my bales. But note that you also can also prepare your bales by just keeping them damp for about 3–4 weeks prior to transplanting, instead of going to all this work.

Days 1–3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them damp. Once the bales are wet they are very heavy and hard to move, so make sure you’re happy with their location.

Days 4–6: Sprinkle the bales with ½ cup of ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales. I didn’t have any trouble finding ammonium nitrate from my local ag-supply store. They sold it in 50-pound bags. I have heard, however, that some people have had difficulty finding it in more urban settings. Ask around. You can substitute blood meal for the nitrate. Just use about 1 cup per bale every other day for Days 4–9.

Days 7–9: Cut back to ¼ cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day, and continue to water it in well.

Day 10: No more ammonium nitrate, but continue to keep the bales damp.

Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales after all danger of frost has passed. Use your hands or a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf, and gently close the crack back together as best you can. After two years of experimenting, I recommend adding a little commercial potting mix around each plant. Do not use soil from your yard! It could spread diseases, bacteria and weeds to the bales.