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Pine needle problems
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Posted by mzona sc (My Page) on Thu, Apr 20, 06 at 20:36
| We have a fenced courtyard that currently has a floor covering of pine needles, a small patch of ground cover, leaves and weeds! It's awful. Problem is we have many large pine trees right behind our fence that don't stop producing needles. I would prefer the look of something else, anything else. We just don't want the constant maintenance to keep our new flooring looking good. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to incorporate the pine with something more visually appealing?
Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pine needle problems
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| You might actually appreciate the pine needles if not for the weeds that are growing up in it. I personally like the look and the smell of pine needles when I walk on them. I wish I had your pine trees. My sister has several large pine trees n her yard and I regularly go over and rake the needles for her to use on my rose beds as mulch. Cheryl |
RE: Pine needle problems
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hi,
I;m not sure where you are. I think it is South Carolina. I'm new to this so I'm not sure but, I have the same problem in my yard. I have been reading up on what will tolerate acidic soil that is caused by pine needles. I have found that rhodadendrums, azelias and if it is a shady area also hostas (sorry about the spelling). If you truely have a carpet then you may want to consider taking down some of the trees, just thinning them out really. From what I understand, nothing will actually grow with a "carpet" of pine needles. You can look on line and google acidic plantings. That has helped me. I just planted those plants so I have to wait myself to see how they fair.
Good Luck |
RE: Pine needle problems
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| I have chrysanthemums living & blooming each year in pine needles. Hostas do well mulched with pine needles & it helps discourage slugs. Since you don't want to maintain/rake the needles, stick with medium to larger hostas since the smaller ones could be overwhelmed. Clethra, Spirea and Beautyberry shrubs are thriving under huge pines. (Of course, after 10 days of rain, everything looks happy!) |
RE: Pine needle problems
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| I'm not sure what you mean by "new flooring". Is it a paved courtyard that's getting covered with pine needles? Are you tracking them into the house onto your new flooring? Pine needles make a wonderful mulch, and I grow woodland plants under mine. The area is light shade, and I have Dicentra, Tiarella, Ferns, Solomon's Seal, Geranium macrorrhyzum, Oakleaf Hydangea, Enkianthus, Leucothoe, Hollies, Mountain Laurel, Clethra alnifolia, Azaleas and Rhododendrons growing under mine. If you don't have enough sun, maybe you can limb them up, or remove some of them? |
RE: Pine needle problems
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Just moved into home in S.Calif, high desert, zip 92544 which has large Pine trees dropping needles in volume. Does this happen all year long? Is there anything that can be done outside of removing trees which would be very expensive? Also concerned about fire problem. WOULD GREATLY
APPRECIATE ANY SUGGESTIONS other than the needles are good
mulch. THANKS
Chris |
RE: Pine needle problems
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Sorry, Chris, but pine needles are good mulch! So, in that vein, why don't you offer them up to someone that may want free mulch? They could come rake them, take them away, and would be appreciative of free mulch. You would have the peace of mind of fewer needles and reduced fire hazard.
Ask a fellow gardener or neighbor if they want them, if not, move on to garden club members or even freecycle. You shouldn't have too hard a problem of getting rid of that good mulch material. ;)
And, yes, needles drop all year long, but more in the fall. |
RE: Pine needle problems
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| I'm in So.Ca. also, outside of L.A. neighbor's long pine needles shed most in spring, summer & have stopped pretty much for winter. They are about 8-10 in. long. Tree was a bonsai that grew!!! It is a good 12-15 ft higher than house which is 15 ft at highest, as reverse of mine & I measured mine!! Neighbor's tree has 2 dead branches but that hasn't increased over last 3-4 yrs. I get a lot of exercise picking them up by hand or using a wide (about 20 in ) broom with black soft but not real soft bristles. My shoulder is damaged some so it is usually done by hand as pulling broom toward me hurts & pushing away they don't come up very well. Also stick in broom so have to clean it out. 4o yrs of needles, could be worse, house on other side really gets it front,back & roof. I just get it in front & occasionally roof. Close to mountains & have had 12 in. long embers in my yard from fires, so I do keep them cleaned up don't want a fire. No worse than the leaves in fall off other neighbor's tree. DD gets little palm trees coming up all over, they are real pain as grow very deep & hard to get them completely out!! Always something!! Are the pines healthy? Could trim them up some & might hit the branches to knock some of needles down so just have 1 mess to clean up. Suppose the branches are high up so it's just cleaning all the time. |
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