chaff/lawn

[Larry Crowe]

I'm looking at starting a new lawn this fall.A couple of wisemen have
told me that I can use chaff.After finding out that its the seed from
wheat I'm hesitant.Maybe they have something here???Has anyone ever
used this stuff for a lawn??

Larry

[Darrell H. Richardson]

Larry Crowe (l...@sei.cmu.edu) wrote:
:
: I'm looking at starting a new lawn this fall.A couple of wisemen have

:

I'm a little confused. I've cut wheat for 5-6 years at my grandmothers in
Walla Walla. Anyway chaff is not the seed, it is the straw that is cut up
finely in the process. It tends to be composed of small pieces of straw,
the beards (almost powdery by now) and the covering that holds the seed
to the stalk (it itches in your skin folds -elbows etc.).
I don't know why you would want to put this on your lawn, but there
may be a good reason. I don't know how you can get ahold of it. The best
you can probably do is to buy straw bales. I have seen people put straw
on newly planted lawns, but don't know why. Come to think of it, even
the county puts straw on newly planted areas along the road (at least
out here they do).
You don't have to worry about getting wheat seed in straw bales - there
should be none to almost none. This is probably obvious, but don't confuse
straw bales with hay.
I would be interested in finding out what purpose is served by the Hay/chaff.

Good Luck
Darrell

[Barry Andreasen - Sun BOS Hardware]

/tmp/rrn6650.2599

>Larry Crowe (l...@sei.cmu.edu) wrote:
>:
>: I'm looking at starting a new lawn this fall.A couple of wisemen have
>: told me that I can use chaff.After finding out that its the seed from
>: wheat I'm hesitant.Maybe they have something here???Has anyone ever
>: used this stuff for a lawn??
>:
>: Larry
>
> I'm a little confused. I've cut wheat for 5-6 years at my grandmothers in
>Walla Walla. Anyway chaff is not the seed, it is the straw that is cut up
>finely in the process. It tends to be composed of small pieces of straw,
>the beards (almost powdery by now) and the covering that holds the seed
>to the stalk (it itches in your skin folds -elbows etc.).
> I don't know why you would want to put this on your lawn, but there
>may be a good reason. I don't know how you can get ahold of it. The best
>you can probably do is to buy straw bales. I have seen people put straw
>on newly planted lawns, but don't know why. Come to think of it, even

Almost certainly is not what the original was referring to, but placing
straw (chaff?) over newly seeded areas aids in holding the seed down
and retaining the moisture (mulch effect) required for germination and
establishing the lawn.

>the county puts straw on newly planted areas along the road (at least
>out here they do).
> You don't have to worry about getting wheat seed in straw bales - there
>should be none to almost none. This is probably obvious, but don't confuse
>straw bales with hay.
> I would be interested in finding out what purpose is served by the Hay/chaff.

What may be the subject here is using non-grass seed in a lawn. To
that extent, rye is a common quick grower used when establishing
lawns. It germinates and takes root quickly, providing shade and
erosion protection for regular lawn seed later. I don't know, but
wheat may provide a similar function, and seed may be found in the
chaff, though this sound unlikely since chaff is a by-product of
separating the seed from the rest of the plant. In any case,
rye/wheat is probably not a good long term product for lawns since it
is not perenial (sp?) and will need to be replanted each season.
Hope this helps

--
*****************************************************************
Barry Andreasen - software engineer
email - barry.a...@East.Sun.COM
phone - (508)442-0575
snail mail - 4 Omni Way Chelmsford, Ma. 01824
*****************************************************************

[Daty Rogers]

In article <C9E3n...@spk.hp.com> rich...@spk.hp.com (Darrell H. Richardson) writes:
>Larry Crowe (l...@sei.cmu.edu) wrote:
>:
>: I'm looking at starting a new lawn this fall.A couple of wisemen have
>: told me that I can use chaff.After finding out that its the seed from
>: wheat I'm hesitant.Maybe they have something here???Has anyone ever
>: used this stuff for a lawn??
>:
>

>on newly planted lawns, but don't know why. Come to think of it, even
>the county puts straw on newly planted areas along the road (at least
>out here they do).

> I would be interested in finding out what purpose is served by the Hay/chaff.
>

It is used as a mulch to preserve ground water in newly planted areas
(esp lawns). Here in Texas, the ground will dry out so fast that any grass
that comes up will be baked and dried out if it weren't for the mulch. It
works very well.

Daty Rogers 1955 to 1974, when cars had class, __o
dro...@spdc.ti.com NOT computers! -\<,
(214)995-9633 ______________________________________(*)/(*)