I have a ignurnt question and I'm too lazy to look it up. Is pine straw the same as pine needles?
pine straw
Yes! And it also makes very good mulch, and best of all it's free for the taking.
Josephine.
Thanks, Josephine. That's what I wanted to use it for. It's abundant down here in the east Texas piney woods; why pay for something that probably has filler and who knows what all else when you can just get what nature put there?
Got a question for both of you. I get plenty of pine needles in my yard also. Should they be broken up before using as mulch or can you just lay them as they are? Also, when they begin to break down, are there any type of plants that they are NOT good for?
Thanks,
Kristi
That's something I need to look up, Kristi. I'm thinking they're pretty acidic, and something's nagging at the back of my mind about using it in the garden. The only advantage of breaking them up would be they would decompose faster. I'm going to go on a factfinding mission and I'll share whatever I come up with.
Ann
I wish I could get it "free for the taking". No Pine trees up here in Black-soil-land and they charge around $10 for a bundle at one of the nurseries that actually has it. :(
Thanks, Ann. Look forward to hearing from you.
Well, as a preliminary, I googled it, and the things everyone seems to agree on are that they decompose VERY slowly, acidify the soil as they are decomposing, but don't have a lasting acidifying effect. So I'm thinking great mulch but maybe not the best compost. "cetonline.org" says not to have more that 10% pine needles/straw in your compost bin.
I'm still thinking I read something specific and it's just at the back of my mind (along with why one should change clothes before working in the garden, etc.) and I'm not finding it. If and when I do, I'll share.
brigid, pine needles/pine straw are great mulching material. I had to buy a couple of bales because it is an organic way to acidify the soil for my azaleas and gardenias. I have noticed that it doesn't clog up like hardwood mulch (meaning water goes through easily) and yet it is an excellent weed barrier. In the areas where pine is not available, pine mulch is outrageously expensive, from $10-25 a bale. can you believe that? So you girls with pines around ya, if you need plant money, sell your pine needles, lol.
The research I've done indicates that to maintain a desirable acid level, you should mulch w/ pine straw every 2 years. True, it decomposes slowly but I don't mind that, in fact I prefer it vs. having to buy cedar mulch every 6 months. If it weren't so expensive for me, I would mulch my entire landscape with pine mulch, or at least alternate. and BTW, any acceptable soil acidifying agent will be formulated to have a slow effect on soil, otherwise you would kill your flora with high acidity.
Furthermore, it will not hurt plants that need alkaline soil, but if you want to be on the safe side, a light covering with pine straw will be an attractive mulch but not enough to acidify your plants to death.
This message was edited Jun 26, 2006 4:39 PM
K....at Mercer Arboretum they just lay the needles down around the plants, they don't chop them. I think it would take a whole bunch to change the pH of the soil.
I have used the it many times and never had a problem, I wish I could get pine needles all the time.
Thanks for the details, Vossner. All I'll have to do is go on a picnic and load up. Too bad we lost so many pines in Hurricane Rita, but I do believe there are plenty still.
Y'all need to plan a weekend camping vacation to my area! Surely the park rangers won't notice you're leaving with a trunk stuffed with pine needles. Or wouldn't believe it!
They are excellent--luckily my neighbors have pines. :)Debbie
Thanks for all the good news. I'll start using every bit I get.
I have been using pine straw for a few years now with no ill effects. I remove it in the spring to work the beds or plant and find that it is actually beginning to break down. It doesn't turn water so works well. I don't think it would be a good compost material. I would not shred it before use and find it attractive as mulch. I wait till some good soaking rains before I mulch the garden spot. If you go to harvest, be careful as copperheads will sometimes be found in it. They are hard to see as it is a natural camo for them. The best tool to use is a 5 or 6 tined pitchfork. A large tub or other lightweight container works well to carry it.
I'm prone to get water moccasins over here. Went to pick okra one day and had one laying up in the leaves across several plants. Scary! I had already cut several okra pods before I noticed it. Another day, I stepped on one underneath the faucet outside. I killed it with my shoes. By throwing them at it. Took every shoe I owned but he died in the neighbors drive way.
No way, I don't own enough shoes! I know more folks in this area that have been bit by copperheads. They blend in so well with pinestraw and our red dirt. The c'heads think they are camo'ed so they lay there and let us pick them up or sit on them or step on them. We get the cottonmouths too and lots of rattlers. There is an occasional coral snake but the copperheads scare me the most. A friend says there are two kinds of snakes here. If it has rattles, it is a rattlesnake. If there are no rattles, it is a cobra!
Ooohhh....heebie jeebies now.
We have the copperheads here too. They blend in the mulch too. I almost touched one when I was weeding, scared me, I didn't have all my shoes with me like K. did, so I just backed up real slow. He pretty much ignored me.
They'll do that. Not agressive at all.
hoogah boogah what was the advantage to pine needles again? I like snakes, but not as a surprise.
I've never had snakes in mine...that I've seen; I actually haven't seen any snakes around here in several years...watch me see one this afternoon now.
The benfits of the Pine Straw is really good and at the price of Free I would use it. Pine straw doesn't bring in the snakes, they'er already there. I would use it and at least get the benifit of the straw, your plants will love you for it.....
Best mulch there is for my rangoon creeper in the winter.
The last time we went to East Texas, the hotel where we stayed had two men, that were raking up pine needles..don't know what they were going to do with them..I turned to my DH, and before I could open my mouth...he told me, 'No way are we hauling those pine needles back to Denton!' He is a spoil sport!
I actually know a man who is a timber consultant. He is branching out and bailing pine straw for the landscape industry. Big business I guess. My dog likes the pinestraw. He knows I put it in the flower bed JUST for him....
I think it's a great idea, and I'm going to get some. But if people are turning it into an industry, you know it's going to be harder to find "in the wild". Ah, well; I'll go ahead and collect what I can. All the pine trees that went down last summer -- even more of a loss. My sweetie had one in his back yard, and I'd collect the needles to do baskets with. It landed on his neighbor's house. :(
You guys need more cats! My neighbor has 14 and we haven't had a snake in years! Although I do have to put out red pepper to keep them from using my beds as litter boxes.
ruth
ruth, I have three cats and a dog. You're right -- they should keep the snakes to a minimum. But only one of them isn't a wuss. It'll be interesting, anyway, to watch and see what happens if I do get a snake.
In Florida they have been 'harvesting pine straw' for years...you can see the tractor trailers parked in the forests..they use prisoners to collect the needles in Taylor County
and they have in GA/AL also. it has just been in the last 5 years the the TX forestry gurus, in an effort to invigorate the industry,have been implementing programs to get people to go into this line of business.
My cats snake hunt too. Our 11 year old male got bit twice last year by bigger snakes. One on his butt. Looked like a baboon, wish I had got a picture.