pine straw

[UFXEFU]

Thoughts on tilling in pine straw to help build soil over winter. I have lots of pine straw and leaves mixed together. Should I till it in now or use it as a mulch this spring?

[AlittleSalt]

I have read that it is better to mow the pine straw first so that it beaks down faster. That is older info that I looked up a several years ago. Our pine trees didn't make it through the drought, so I haven't looked for more info.

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by UFXEFU

Thoughts on tilling in pine straw to help build soil over winter. I have lots of pine straw and leaves mixed together. Should I till it in now or use it as a mulch this spring?

You can do it either way.What I do is, use the pine needles for mulch one year and then till them in before the next garden season.By that time they will break up when the tiller hits them if they aren't already.

Another thing to consider is the acidity of the pine needles.Here they usually fall to the ground about this time of year.You should always let them get rained on at least a few times before you rake them up and put in the garden, preferably let them stay on the ground all winter.The rain gradually washes away the acid.I read a study someone did on acidity in pine needles years ago and basically it concluded that green pine needles are very acidic, fresh fallen needles have a good amount of acidity,but aged washed out needles have very little, if any.I remember the number they put on the aged needles was one tenth of one point on the PH scale max.

[Cole_Robbie]

You beat me to posting the acidity information. By the time you rake it up off the ground, pine needles are virtually ph-neutral.

[Worth1]

Some places need the acid.

Worth

[UFXEFU]

Looks like the consensus is that pine straw will not change the pH much. I am putting mostly leaves with some pine needles. I plan to mulch this spring with pine straw, then till the mulch in next fall. I hope the leaves that I am adding now are composted by spring plant out.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Some places need the acid.

Worth

Pine needles/straw is not going to help much. .

Any soil with pH of over 5.6 is in acceptable range. Probably pine straw has a higher pH than that.
Down in Georgia I made garden where the soil was red clay and acidic too. I added lots and lots of pine straw, leaves, manures ... and of course some lime.

I agree w/ Salt : Run your mower over a pile to chop it. This way it will mix wit soil much easily.

Gardeneer

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Pine needles/straw is not going to help much. .

Any soil with pH of over 5.6 is in acceptable range. Probably pine straw has a higher pH than that.
Down in Georgia I made garden where the soil was red clay and acidic too. I added lots and lots of pine straw, leaves, manures ... and of course some lime.

I agree w/ Salt : Run your mower over a pile to chop it. This way it will mix wit soil much easily.

Gardeneer

I was just making a point.
An example is a woman I know.
She comes from a part of the country where the soil is acidic.
She cant seem to get it through her head to add anything acidic to our soil.

I came home with a whole truck load of free pine needles one time and put them on my garden.
She told me I was going to kill my garden with them that they were poisonous.

Worth

[Gerardo]

She told me I was going to kill my garden with them that they were poisonous.


Love Apples are poisonous too!