Is straw filled with chemicals?

[CathyA]

In the past few years, I've been using straw in the garden. it works great under tomatoes, to keep wilt from washing up in the soil during rain.
Today we worked hard in the garden and got it all weeded. I put straw around all the tomatoes and put up the tomato cages.
But then it hit me.........are there lots of chemicals in straw? I've been watering 2 bales of straw for several weeks, to get the weed seeds to sprout before putting it in the garden.
And nothing sprouted! That bothers me.
I'm sure the place I buy it in our small town wouldn't have a clue what might be in/on it.
Now I'm feeling like I should collect it all.
I guess in the recent past, some chemicals were put on straw that actually ruined gardens. Dang.
I just don't know what to do. It works so well as mulch, but I sure don't want to be eating toxic veggies.........if they even grow after this.
I'm bummed.

[redfox]

Cathy, straw has no seeds in it. It's the dried out hollow stem of a plant that has been combined (pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, CAHM-bined) for the seeds, then the leftovers are baled for use as livestock bedding and landscape material.

There are different kids of straw, depending upon what plant it is. Where did it come from? It's likely wheatstraw or barleystraw. Oatstraw has a beautiful sheen to it, because of all the silica in it.

And, yes, most straw has some chemicals that have been sprayed on it when it was growing. That's what big ag does! I always suggest organic material for a food garden.

[CathyA]

Thanks redfox. I have no idea what kind it is, but we seem to have an occasional stalk of wheat growing in the garden, so I'm assuming its wheat straw.
All the other bales of straw I've gotten have always had alot of weeds sprout in them, when I would water them over a couple of weeks.
I would love to buy organic, but I don't think its available around here. This is a pretty ignorant/unprogressive state (Indiana).

[Gregg]

There are a lot of places that sell "certified" bales, meaning they are weed free specifically so you don't end up with a garden full of weeds. If there is a choice those are usually more expensive. A quick call to your supplier should answer that. Other than that any commercially grown crop will have some residual chemicals on it, but in the case of something like herbicides that were used to control weeds in the original crop the dosage should be minimal by the time a straw bale reaches you. Not to say it is desirable, but there shouldn't be enough of anything left to hurt your garden plants.

[CathyA]

Thanks Gregg.
I guess I got scared when I started reading about several chemicals used on straw that actually killed off the babies in pregnant mares and some other farm animals. And if the manure from these animals and straw was used on vegetable crops, it caused them all to die, and poisoned the ground.
When I picked up the straw at the local Farm and Feed, I asked if they knew where I could buy organic straw and she said "What's organic mean?" That is this area in a nutshell. :0!

[Gregg]

I'm certainly no big fan of petro-chemical based agriculture and believe exposure is best avoided if you have an alternative, but the products used should never have the results you relayed if they are properly applied. If that story is true I would have to guess that either multiple chemicals were combined and formed some toxic ****tail or someone applied several times the recommended dosage.

[daisy]

I don't know if they are licensed to use for the cereal grains that the straw would be produced from, but the hormone-based herbicides (clopyralid, picloram, amypyrolid, etc.) can survive in plant material and can pass through horses/cows intact. If you use this material in your garden or use the manure from an animal that has consumed these plants (even after composting), you can introduce the herbicide into the soil in your garden. I used contaminated hay in my yard this year (the producer denies using herbicides) and have already lost several plants. I am hoping that some of the less-susceptible plants will recover, although everything that had hay around it is showing symptoms.