Quote:
Originally Posted by coast crab
Quote:
Originally Posted by LilRaverBoi
Pine needles create acidic conditions in the soil, as well as ground-cover which typically inhibits other plants from growing in that location.
I'm not quite sure what to make of these statements...
We use pine straw all the time, either raked fresh when it is available or bought as bales. Yes, it may acidify the soil, but I've never seen that inhibit the growth of ANY plant. In my profession that would be rather counter-productive! Also it doesn't wash away in all of the rain we get, it holds in moisture and controls weeds by covering bare soil - not by modifying pH.
CC, if you bought it out of a trailer in the parking lot of Lowes or Home Depot they called it 'pine straw' because it IS pine straw  !
Russell |
I think they just called it pine straw because it was baled up in a bale but it was a bundle of long pine needles. Everyone used it down there the same as wood chips, around their plants in flower beds to hold in moisture and inhibit weeds just like you said.
Cedar trees like I'm talking about where nothing grows under them is something different than regular pine. They don't drop a lot of needles like pines, they're more like a spruce and they drip sap which I think is what must inhibit plant growth underneath. I just mentioned it as if there is plumaria planted underneath, it would be terrible to invest a lot of money in the wrong type of trees. I didn't know a thing about any of this until I moved out here.
P.S. I refered to "pines" in my first post in a broad manner and my husband corrected me afterwards.