Re: CULT: Pine needles

	Griff Crump wrote:

>One of my hunting buddies and I raked up 10 big bags of white pine
>needles from his yard today. I want to use them as mulch to try to
>prevent my newly-planted TBs from heaving this winter. Does anyone who
>has used pine needles have any advice to give? (When to apply, how
>thick, etc.) All input appreciated.

	I use pine needles on all my irises, bearded and beardless. I first
	cover the bearded with about 1" of soil (you probably don't want/have
	to do this in your warmer Zone) and then put about 2-3" of pine
	needles around the bearded. Yes, touching the plant altho' the con-
	ventional wisdom says not to. I don't put them down until about
	the third week in November...they are still naked even though we
	have had snow and plenty of hard frosts. Our pine needles are just
	started to come down. We collect bushels every November and I
	take them off in May. They are loose and don't pack down and allow
	good air circulation.

	We probably don't need the needles since we don't lose our snow
	cover until May....we also don't have much in the thaw, freeze
	cycle. Some poorly constructed plant markers started to heave at
	the end of April last year but didn't come out of the ground but
	I am worried that each Spring will be the one where we lose our
	snow cover. :-(

	I put a thicker layer of needles as a mulch around the beardless. The
	Japanese irises actually seem to eat the needles up...they just dis-
	appear like they are being composted. Nice dark remains.

	Hope this helps,

	Ellen


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ellen Gallagher  / e_galla@moose.ncia.net
Northern New Hampshire, USA   /    Zone 3
Siberian iris robin    /  sibrob@ncia.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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