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shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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Posted by ak-grown 5b (My Page) on Fri, Jan 2, 09 at 13:02
| i have about ten 100ft tall ponderosas i my yard, and when they shed their needles i rake for two days. I end up with a pile about the size of a small car. Generally i burn these, but this year i want to use a small portion in the compost pile. I know they decompose slowly, therfor i want to shred them. Do any of you have pines with larg needles that you use in your compost.And if so what is the best method of shredding them? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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- Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 2, 09 at 22:28
| Use them several inches deep as a mulch, including under the trees they came from. Works realy well. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| I've not seen a shredder that will do much more than just cycle pine needles through without shredding them, other than the very large and expensive tub type that many woodcutters use. Pine needles, White, Red, Austrian, Black, compost quite well in my compost piles without being shredded, although I more often than not will use them for mulch rather than compost them. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| Rather than attempting to shred and composting (a rather slow process for this material), use them as-is for a mulch. This is commonly called pine straw and is very much in demand in many areas. The needles have an ability to interlock, which makes them very desireable for mulching slopes - they don't blow away easily nor are they prone to wash away with rainfall. They are attractive and very good for weed supression. And they do not impact soil pH to any significant degree. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| Pine mulch doesn't affect ph?? Aren't the needles supposed to be very acidic? Wouldn't be a way to lower the ph of your vegetable garden? |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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- Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Sat, Jan 3, 09 at 15:28
| It was asked: "Aren't the needles supposed to be very acidic? " Popular wisdom says that's true. But facts say "Not so." |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| I'm not sure about the "Popular wisdom" but old myths do hold that Pine Needles are acidic and will make your soil acidic, but good, solid research has show that this will not happen. Back in the 1960's, I think, Organic Gardening magazine published and article about the pH of various tree leaves and all of those leaves, Beech, Birch, Maple, Oak, Pine, etc., tested in the 3.2 to 3.8 pH range. Since I was working in a place with access to a lab with a very good pH meter I did my own testing and found the article was right on. Since then there have been numerous articles written by soil scientists in Organic Gardening, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Garden Gate, and others I cannot recall right off that stated that leaves and needles would not change your soils pH any more than looking cross eyed at your soil would. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| The notion that using an acidic product - like pine bark, pine straw, oak leaves, etc. - as a mulch will increase the acidity of your soils is one of those old wives' tales/garden myths that is just very slow to die. While these products are indeed acidic themselves, their impact on soil pH is negligible. There is substantial scientific documentation to support this. As these products decompose, they lose most of their acidic properties through the digestive actions of the soil organisms and approach a neutral pH. Testing has shown that any soils treated with these types of mulches over time actually tend to result in higher, rather than lower, pH levels, as such is the soil buffering capacity of any OM, but even that impact tends to be minimal. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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gg48,
I didn't know this. I wished I had stumbled into GardenWeb way way before now. I had layers and layers of evergreen needles on my front yard and walkway. One spring I lifted that and put it out for the curb collection. I didn't even use it for the backyard compost bin because somewhere along the line I was told NOT to use these unless I want to get acidic compost. That was before I have all the time to sit in front of the computer. |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| Are they antifungal though? Will they kill off beneficial mycorryzha? |
RE: shredding 10in ponderosa needles?
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| That depends on which Mychorrhiza fungi you have. The species that works with pine trees is not affected by the pine needles, and may well benefit from them. Tilling soil will do more damage to fungi than any organic matter you add to your soil. |
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