Strulch

[Dorothyrouse]

Has anyone used ‘Strultch’? Does it work ? Is it worth the expense? Thinking of using it around courgette and pumpkins plants on allotment

thanks

[ameno]

I've never used it myself, but it's a Which Best Buy for mulches.
Whether it's worth the expense is another much, though. It may be cheaper to just buy a bale of pre-chopped straw from a farming supply place, if you have one near you (don't buy unchopped straw, as the individual pieces of straw are too long and it makes for a difficult mulch as a result).
The place near me sells compressed 18kg bales of chopped miscanthus straw for £8.30. One bale goes a fair way (it's enough for two years of strawberry mulch for all of my strawberries, plus some leftover).
These compressed bales are usually sold as "horse bedding".

[Mr Bones]

Not used it ourselves but lots of allotment friends do and all say it works really well, particularly as it's treated to deter slugs. They club together and buy a pallet load at reduced cost.

[Dorothyrouse]

Now that is a good idea,think I’ll ask our ‘allotment shop man’ if he can get some

[Penellype]

I've used it as a poor relation to the fantastic but now sadly unavailable cocoashell for probably the last 10 years. It works as a mulch to keep water in, providing you can stop the birds throwing it about. It does a reasonable job of suppressing weeds, but some do get through. I've used it under strawberries, where it keeps the fruit clean and does somewhat deter slugs, although some will get through (more when it is wet). This year I trialled it as a mulch on potatoes and initial results show record breaking yields in a shorter time than expected, but that may have been true for any mulch.

It is expensive, but I have tried chipped bark (hate it), chopped twigs (no good), and compost (tends to grow weeds) and I always go back to Strulch, at least for pots, strawberries and difficult to weed areas like between the fence and the row of peas.

[Dorothyrouse]

Thanks everyone, think I might give it a go, really struggling with weeds, etc, and need something to help protect my pumpkins and squashes ( if they ever decide to produce anything)