Pine needles as mulch (flowers, lawn, growing, fertilizers)

[normie]

Anyone use pine needles as a mulch?

This is my first winter in a house with eight white pines. Which means I now have pine needles-a-mundo. Bags and bags that I've raked up, since it looked like it might be killing the grass. Now what to do with it?

I'm thinking of making a 2-3" layer of mulch in a very large rose garden. The garden has 8 knockout roses, a dogwood, a crape myrtle, as well as an assortment of butterfly bushes, spireas, nandinas, boxwoods, mums, peonies, iris, a hibiscus, and about 1,000 daffodil bulbs (just planted). Since these are mostly acidic plants, my guess is the pine needles would be beneficial and also keep the roses warm (we're expecting a cold winter). But I've never tried it, so I'm a little leery. Any thoughts? Also, would the pine needles hurt my daffodils?

[SunnyKayak]

Im like you i'm questioning around the daffodils but it will be great around the other plants you are using. Pine needles are good mulch just they turn after awhile to a grey color but will be good for now especially since you supply the needles for free.

[Padgett2]

People actually buy bales of pine needles to use as mulch. They do well especially around acid loving plants.

However, ROSES don't like an acid soil. They like a neutral or slightly alkaline soil. It might be a good idea to have the soil in the rose bed tested.

We don't rake ours up. We have a mulching blade on the mower. It helps keep the soil on the lawn built up.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Padgett2

People actually buy bales of pine needles to use as mulch. They do well especially around acid loving plants.

However, ROSES don't like an acid soil. They like a neutral or slightly alkaline soil.

Maybe you have different roses? The knockouts like 6.5 (slightly acid). I think the roses will be ok because the Norfolk Botanical Gardens' Rose Gardens uses pine needles. But--just in case maybe I should leave a circle of "breathing space" around the roses.

[paperhouse]

If you're worried about them, just toss out some lime around each bush.

[SD snowbird]

Pine needles will definately make the soil acidic so be careful. Check out the preferences of the plants in the bed before using needles there.
This would be a great mulch around acid loving plants and would minimize their need for you to feed them with acid. I know lupines and rhododendrons would love this.

[Briolat21]

Up here in the midwest we pay big money for bales of "pine straw" to use as mulch. In fact its been rated as one of the most beneficial mulche options because the pine needles lock together to prevent soil erosion, but also because you can use a much more shallow layer -- not causing the rot and oxygen deprivation that usually occurs under 3-5" of bark mulch.

Lucky for you to be so rich in natural resources!!

[mawipafl]

Roses and pine straw mulch -- I recently attended a club meeting during which the main speaker was a rosarian. He specifically uses pine straw (ie pine needles) for mulch in his rose gardens and doesn't treat the soil to combat any sort of acidity or anything (just uses the typical fertilizers and such that rose growing requires.)

[Padgett2]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Roses and pine straw mulch -- I recently attended a club meeting during which the main speaker was a rosarian. He specifically uses pine straw (ie pine needles) for mulch in his rose gardens and doesn't treat the soil to combat any sort of acidity or anything (just uses the typical fertilizers and such that rose growing requires.)

hmmmm, that's interesting! I can't help but wonder if he has soil that is naturally on the alkaline side. Where we are, the soil is known to be acid everywhere. Azaleaes, Camellias and other acid lovers, thrive and do well without any fertilizer. Roses just don't do well at all. Some rose fanciers in the area actually import clay soil from other areas to make their rose beds.

I looked in one of my gardening books, it did say that roses like a SLIGHTLY acid soil pH6.0 to 6.5. Under azaleas, it said that decomposed pine needles make the kin of ACID soil in which azaleas thrive. Camillias need pH of 5-6. So I guess it's a relative thing that depends on what you have to begin with. 6 is considered a neutral soil with 0 being the ultimate acid soil and 14 the top alkaline. So to my way of thinking 6.5 would NOT be slightly acid. It would be slightly alkaline.

Good Luck. Flowers can add so much to a house. I have to wonder about people that don't have anything except GREEN. Even a pot of Mums or Geraniums on the porch to add a tiny spot of color would help.

[southernnaturelover]

Down here in the deep south just about everyone uses pine needles as mulch, especially Longleaf and Slash pine needles. The pine needles here are typically about a foot long, hence the term "pine straw". The above poster was correct in saying that azaleas, hollies, and camellias thrive in a layer of pine needles. My blueberry bushes are under some pine trees and I get a large crop every year without the use of any fertilizer. There is an elderly man in my town that goes along the roadsides raking up pine straw every year. He bales it up right there on the back of his pickup and sells it.