I use hay, Ruth Stout method, in my gardens routinely. We grow potatoes in hay. I dont know if it would grow weed all that well. I can see a few issues with it. One great thing is lots of air!
depends, hay is generally better as far as nutrition is considered. Straw is just the stems after the seed has been removed. Hay is the plant before seed has set. It has higher nutritional value than straw. The addition of water to hay causes it to break down rapidly and release its goodness. The downside is it can get soggy and moldy.
we use it as a top dress to keep weeds down and retain moisture, it also feeds the worm! As you can see we need driving range net 8 feet high to keep deer from eating our food!
Organic material in hay would inevitably break down and render media acidic. Straw lacks the organic material: just cellulose. I think it’s a great experiment.
It might be interesting to try a woven straw ‘module’ the size of a 7 gallon pot to use in lieu of a fabric pot and coco.
oh @Myfriendis410 the hay we use was cut 12 years ago and has been in a rotting barn ever since. It is pretty much inert. Much of it is well composted already. The rest is just bone dry. Worms love it though!
