Re: Pine Needles for Iris Mulch (Was: Broccoli as a green manure crop....
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Pine Needles for Iris Mulch (Was: Broccoli as a green manure crop....
  • From: S*@aol.com
  • Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 07:43:22 -0500 (EST)
Thanks for the reply.  My soil is alkaline so I don't mind a little pH  
change.  Do you think it is a fire risk if you apply it next to the  house?
 
Intense moisture and little rain makes mulching a good idea as long as it  
doesn't trap moisture next to the rhizomes.  We do have a monsoon season in  
August (some years). 
 
I've written an article on the subject on the club's web site
 
Here is a link
_https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bx8xSRt-YuRYVjZQU0wtejNTcGs_ 
(https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bx8xSRt-YuRYVjZQU0wtejNTcGs) 
 
 
Scarlett
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/5/2012 1:01:22 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,  
phantomfyre@yahoo.com writes:

Pine  needles - YES!!! They are the best iris mulch, as they don't hold
moisture  like other mulches. My neighbors on either side of me have white 
pine
trees  that drop needles every fall, and they are delighted to give them to 
me
or  have me come take them away. I mulch everything with them - TBs 
included.  I
don't worry about the acidity - when you mulch with something on the  acid
side, it decays slowly, so the acidifying properties of the mulch  material 
is
offset by time and leaching as they compost slowly at surface  level. 
However,
if you till them into the soil, then you can run into  issues with pH 
changes.
Since I started mulching, the irises are so much  happier, and so am I. Soil
moisture and temperature are kept even, organic  matter is (slowly) added to
the soil, and I actually have a chance of  keeping up with the weeds!

Diana
Anshakov

N.  Illinois



________________________________

From: Betty  Ann
Gunther <bettyg@cybermesa.com>
Subject: Re: [iris] Brocolie as  a green manure
crop control soil diseases

By the way, I, too, am a  veteran leaf snatcher. 
But others have caught 
on in my town and you  have to be quick to get the
leaves. The pine 
needles are not commonly  used in Los Alamos but we have lots
of them.  
They take a long  time to decay but make a good mulch for those of
us 
with alkaline  soil.  In the south gathering and baling pine needles for
sale is a  business, but local folklore in Los Alamos is that pine 
needles
contain  too much acid.  Well, I think that is what we need!  So 
I use  them. 
They decay more quickly than in my compost pile.

Betty  Gunther
Los Alamos,  NM

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