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Are pine needles any good as a mulch?  Or added to the compost bin?  Any good as a slug/snail deterrent?

My son has a carrier bag full of them from his Christmas tree.

Can they be used around blueberries after composting?

Will be quite acidic if used in large amounts but that quantity would compost ok...  :)

Quote from: saddad on January 06, 2011, 08:11:19
Will be quite acidic if used in large amounts but that quantity would compost ok...  :)

mix in well, a layer of them will take ages to compost!

better use is to put them on a walkway

I have used shredded Christmas trees successfully around strawberries as a mulch, they supress the weeds well, and rot down slowly to produce a lovely black acidic soil. I have not found the acidic effect last long, when I replaced my old strawberry bed I followed it with sweetcorn and they did brilliantly.

 

   We had snippet on our local radio 'The Eye' telling everyone that they could take along their Christmas tree to the local recycling centre and it will be turned in to compost, now I'm concerned about this, what percentage of this rubbish will we  be getting in our compost, 

Pine needles are an excellent weed-suppressant mulch, but be aware that they exude a substance that hinders seed germination (hence the bare ground in pine plantations!)

I'm going to have probably a builders tonne bag of shredded leylandii soon (as I'm shredding my way through the ones I cut down)... given that I grow almost everything except carrots and parsnips from sowings in modules I think I'll spread it around things I don't want to have to weed too much like the big onions....

chrisc

Thanks for all the replies, I will tell my son.

There's a pine which leaves TONS of needles and cones all over my mum's garden, and it rots down to a beautiful looking dark, fluffy compost, like the sort of compost you'd dream of, if you had such odd dreams. But because we heard it was acidic, we don't use it for anything. Maybe she should test it to see if it loses it acidity by the time it breaks down to compost, it looks like a great soil conditioner.

we use it for mulching blueberries, they like a ph of 4.5 to 5 so, it suits them fine  :)

Quote from: pigeonseed on January 08, 2011, 20:36:52
There's a pine which leaves TONS of needles and cones all over my mum's garden, and it rots down to a beautiful looking dark, fluffy compost, like the sort of compost you'd dream of, if you had such odd dreams. But because we heard it was acidic, we don't use it for anything. Maybe she should test it to see if it loses it acidity by the time it breaks down to compost, it looks like a great soil conditioner.

note, no growth of weeds in it !!

Pine needles are an excellent weed-suppressant mulch, but be aware that they exude a substance that hinders seed germination
Thats true and it is not only seed germination that struggles..all plant growth..
but if the needles are allowed to turn brown first and then used as 'acidic' mulch, presence of these chemicals are reduced..it is the fresh green needles and conifer clippings that are most 'harmful'.
I used pine needles in my 'acid mix' compost and as mulch on my blueberry planter.
If you go into forest where there is some pines..you get quite good idea what sort of plants 'thrive' or can take the needles..brambles..wild rapberries..blueberries..granberries..
In my blueberry planter I made last year I had some blubutton mushrooms popping up too...great bonus ;D

Pigeonseed, try mixing lime into your compost.