A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Gloster, Lousiana 71030 Zone 8a
Posts: 253
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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?
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#2 |
BANNED FOR LIFE
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
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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.
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#3 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 743
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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. |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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You beat me to posting the acidity information. By the time you rake it up off the ground, pine needles are virtually ph-neutral.
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Some places need the acid.
Worth |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Gloster, Lousiana 71030 Zone 8a
Posts: 253
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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.
Last edited by UFXEFU; December 8, 2015 at 08:11 PM. |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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![]() ![]() 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 |
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#8 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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![]() 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 |
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: San Diego-Tijuana
Posts: 2,598
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She told me I was going to kill my garden with them that they were poisonous.
![]() Love Apples are poisonous too! |
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