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Started By
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Pine needles, hay, or cypress mulch?
Posted on 2/22/24 at 6:48 am
Posted on 2/22/24 at 6:48 am
I have a 8x 40 raised bed that I normally cover with loose cypress mulch from Lowes. This year I am thinking about putting something else down. Tractor supply has hay for 25% of the cost of mulch and a local nursery has pine needles close to the same price as the hay. Is there any drawbacks to using hay or pine needles and saving some money? TIA
4
Posted on 2/22/24 at 7:26 am to nated14
I prefer pine straw, uncut.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 7:43 am to nated14
Hay can have TONS of seeds in it. I would strongly suggest against it. I made that mistake once while bucket gardening. Never again.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 7:49 am to convertedtiger
Excellent point! Pine it is
Posted on 2/22/24 at 10:10 am to nated14
quote:
a local nursery has pine needles close to the same price as the hay
This in Baton Rouge area? Where?
Posted on 2/22/24 at 5:07 pm to nated14
Long leaf pine straw if you can find it
Posted on 2/22/24 at 8:38 pm to eatpie
Yes BR area.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 8:31 am to nated14
Why do you want to move from the cypress mulch?
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:27 am to Bayou
i'm doing my landscaping in the next few months and trying to decide what to use for mulch. we had looked at softscape but it's very expensive so i was figuring cypress. The house across from my office window had their landscape done in October and the cypress mulch looked great at first but not 6 months in it's silver and looks terrible. we like the look of pine straw so i'm back to leaning towards that or softscape fake pine straw in that brown color. Any negatives to pine straw? What's the price comparison to cypress?
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:44 am to nated14
Pine straw can “flavor” veggies grown in it as well as add acidity to the soil (not much grows where pines shed).
Posted on 2/23/24 at 9:47 am to Sidicous
quote:
Pine straw can “flavor” veggies grown in it as well as add acidity to the soil (not much grows where pines shed).
this would only be for decorative plants. would the acidity hurt the shrubs and what not? and/or is the acidity good for keeping the weeds down?
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:42 am to poochie
Pine straw fades in full sun fairly quickly IMO. It's the most economical and best for the environment, but it does not hold up. Kinda PITA to put down, too. Some pine straw bales are full of sticks.
Softscape was the best at holding the "new" look for the longest, but apparently they have gone out of business. I paid a premium last year to go full softscape, now I can't get the stuff. frick!
Softscape was the best at holding the "new" look for the longest, but apparently they have gone out of business. I paid a premium last year to go full softscape, now I can't get the stuff. frick!
Posted on 2/23/24 at 11:55 am to poochie
quote:
would the acidity hurt the shrubs and what not
You should look up those plants before piling on the straw, potentially using it for years. Some thrive in acidic soil and others will die.
Take a stroll through a pine forest and you’ll notice the lack of just about anything growing under the pines. Just too much acid. So yes it will keep the weeds down, a lot of other stuff too though if used longer.
Watch for signs of stress in the plants.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 4:06 pm to Sidicous
I typically put pine straw in my beds out front, once a year. But I just have some large mature Holly plants up there. Every other year I lay it on pretty thick, and the next year it usually just needs topped off. It gets beat down with the wind and rain over time, and eventually breaks down back into the dirt. Smaller decorative stuff like perennials or annuals, I might shy away from it. But it is almost impossible to kill a Holly. I took a chainsaw to mine about a decade ago, down to the root, when they had gotten too big for me to easily keep them trimmed. Within a couple of years, they were about 3 feet tall again and skinny, but thriving. A couple more years and they had gotten thick again.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 4:12 pm to Sidicous
quote:
Take a stroll through a pine forest and you’ll notice the lack of just about anything growing under the pines.
Sure, where it's been controlled by a recent burn. Otherwise, pine forest is typically full of underbrush and understory trees. Pine needles make very good mulch, especially if the needles have been run through a mulcher and chopped up a litte.
Posted on 2/23/24 at 5:27 pm to Sidicous
quote:
Pine straw can “flavor” veggies grown in it as well as add acidity to the soil (not much grows where pines shed).
Posted on 2/23/24 at 6:29 pm to Sidicous
quote:
Pine straw can “flavor” veggies grown in it as well as add acidity to the soil
When used as a mulch it doesn’t acidify the soil. And if you till it into the soil it may acidify the soil some, but it’s such a small amount that it’s negligible. This is a very common myth.
I’m a huge fan of pine straw.
This post was edited on 2/23/24 at 6:34 pm
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