Lawns - What to do with pine needles

I have a lot of pine trees in my yard. When I rake them I get a massive amount of them. My question is what do you do with them? Thanks for any help.

collectsfrogs,
Me again. If you can save them, they make a great mulch. three to four inches thick on each side of my melon bed kept my lopes high and dry. They till in great afterwards, too. In the long haul they will acidify the soil to a degree. A little Ag lime in the fall will neutralize the needles.
fred

ok, but what do i do with the rest of it. the homeowners before me just piled it in the back yard and it is still there it looks awful i want to get rid of it and burning it is taking too long. i heard that you cant really compost it, but wasnt sure

I don't know about in New York, but here people pay for pine needles to use as mulch for flower beds, walkways, etc...

If it's the same up there, put an ad in the paper, make it free, and people will show up with trucks and pitchforks.

Hi Cheese

I was thinking the same thing - but we DON'T use pine straw much up here (not sure why) but it would be an excellent mulch.

Maybe I'll post a question over in Gardening to find out why... :rolleyes:

Howie :)

Hi Howe,
I've got plenty of pine trees on my property here, but I wouldn't even consider trying to collect the needles. There are too many other trees mixed in and getting just needles would be a pain.
But, my last home in OH had a thick stand of pine in the back and the needles were 6 inches thick underneath them. I bagged and bagged and dumped them on the garden. They decomposed almost completely during the winter and it was the best soil I ever had. The only problem I see, as I mentioned, is that the acidity would rise(as with any organic matter) and I would just put down some lime in the fall.

Hey, I may have hit a BONANZA. My son started working at a Southern States(farm suppy) recently and he can get damaged goods/packages at killer prices. Yesterday he brought home an entire bag(3.6 cu ft) of peat moss for.......................................are you ready...............twenty five cents!
fred

Thanx Fred

Your thought about the mixed leaves (and in Toronto, the garbage thrown into the mix, to boot) is probably true - we don't have a lot of pure stands of pine around, so harvesting would be a pain...

If your son wants to send any of his deep discount product this way..... :) ....let's see... $.25 US = $.12 CDN + his (small) profit margin + S&H + duties & import tax + Provincial Sales tax + Federal Goods & Services tax + ... nah.. it'll still be more than at the garden centre - hate it when the government makes more than the supplier and retailer. :(

Regards

Howie

Howie,
I know exactly what you mean. I love the cdn 'discount' when I go fishing for a week up at Viamede Resort on Stoney Lake. But the taxes do eat you up.
fred