will pine needles be ok for mulch? our goats, chickens and pigs range in a white pine shaded area, and they dig up a lot of needles. i would like to use this in the garden but am unsure of the effect that pine needles might have on my soil quality. i have a pretty high clay content in the soil, so i think that most any organic matter would help, but what about the pH level? i seem to recall that pine is pretty acid. thanks for any comments.... john

-- john houser (farmrjon@juno.com), May 17, 2000

Answers

We have different pine species down here but unless there's something peculiar about white pines that I'm not aware of their needles will make a good mulch. You may need to adjust the pH once in a while with some lime or wood ashes but that would be about it. I use pine needles and oak leaves for mulch and they work just fine. Next year I may need to spread some wood ashes but this year my soil pH is where it should be.

...........Alan.

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-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), May 17, 2000.

That would be my only concern as well -- pine needles generally create an acidic environment. Great as mulch for blueberries and lingonberries which need a lower pH. Other stuff may need a basic substance to balance the pH in the future.

-- Mike O (olsonmr@yahoo.com), May 17, 2000.

We use pine needles and oak leaves regularly for mulch but we do sprinkle some lime or ashes to compensate for the acid. I was surprised to learn that oak leaves are even more acid than pine needles.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), May 17, 2000.

They work very well. Just remember they are very acidic! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 17, 2000.

We've usually tried to keep the pine needles out of the garden, but the best mulch we've got is oak and maple leaves-- we collect other peoples leaves in the fall -- sometimes they drop them off right at our garden (which is next to the road). Hubby made a big pile of leaves one year, and left it till the next -- the pile was on top of sod which had been so tough the rototiller couldn't even make a dent in it -- after a year of the leaves being there, the soil under the pile was so soft and lovely you would sink in when you walked on it -- it didn't *need* to be tilled!! And earthworms all over the place!! (They had done the tilling for us!) We do lime, and put ashes on the garden, so haven't had a problem with leaves acidifying the soil -- I didn't know, though, that oak leaves are MORE acid than pine needles! Now we won't hesitate to use the pine needles, also -- we have lots of them!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 18, 2000.

Pine needles are more fibrous than other leaves - fine for a mulch, but will take longer to break down to compost.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 19, 2000.

Houser sucks. I fed his dog Roach Prufe. It might have died, but I'm not sure.

-- Jed "The Fish" Hooper (HouserMustDie@houser's.house), June 22, 2001.