mulching blueberries

[Leo Voisine]

We just had HEAVY rain the last 2 days. Lots of local flooding - heavy rain

So everything got - nicely watered - or did it?

I use a mulcher setup in the fall to grind up my mostly oak leaves then collect all the ground up leaves

I have noticed that after rain the water does NOT penetrate into the ground up leave pile.

Today, with the ground still saturated from the heavy rain I was in my blueberry patch pulling up some grass sprouts. Funny to notice the dry dirt on the roots. WHAT?????

So I pulled back some the ground leaves to find DRY soil. Blueberries do not like dry - they like moist soil. Seems like I am stunting my blueberries.

I need to scrap the idea of ground oak leaves as mulch.


Any thoughts?

 

[David Johnson]

Oak leaves just hate to rot. They can be used ,but thin layers.
David

 

[Ryan Mooney]

I’m surprised they compacted that much when ground up.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I think I found that if they get matted they for a barrier. I fluffed them up. Time will tell

 

[Ted Calver]

I use pine straw to mulch mine. It lets water through, even when it gets matted. Lowe's sells small bales but my pines shed enough.

 

[Mike Stafford]

I have all the pine straw you want. Just come and rake it up. No charge....

 

[Leo Voisine]

I have a couple of big pines, but harvesting the pine needles is not readily had.

I can get small bales of straw at lowes.

 

[Mike Stafford]

Two things you need to effectively rake pine straw is a wide rake and a burlap tobacco sheet. With the wide rake you just drag it through the pine straw area to your burlap sheet and fill it up. The tobacco sheet is 8 feet square. The rake is 51 inches wide. Makes relatively short work of the task. We have 14 pine trees and 14 trillion pine needles.



We can't possibly use all the pine straw that falls so we offer to those poor folks who have none.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I know that pine needles is good garden stuff and well worth harvesting. I can cleanup the areas where they fall so I can harvest, but that is not really high on my priority list.

I am wondering. I call it pine needles - you call it straw. Is there a difference. My eastern white pines shed the "leaves" "needles" in the fall but grow new needles and are green all year.

What is pine straw?

uh - i got it

Pine straw and pine needles are the exact same thing; the terms are simply used interchangeably. "Pine needles" refers to the foliage while still on the tree, whereas "pine straw" is the term used when these fallen needles are harvested and baled for use as landscaping mulch

 

[Paul Douglass]

I planted some pine tree, thinking no leaves to rake... Was I dumb? Raking leaves is usually once in the Spring. Pretty easy to rake or blow. Pine needles are very difficult to rake and the rest of the year, it is picking up pinecones on a daily basis! My life has a daily routine, walk the yard (about 3/4 acre) pick up pinecones and dog poop (two poopie dogs)!

 

[Rennie Heuer]

I call it pine needles - you call it straw. Is there a difference.
What is pine straw?
Pine straw and pine needles are the exact same thing; t

And all this time I thought the only options were paper or plastic.

 

[Mike Stafford]

And all this time I thought the only options were paper or plastic.

I am not sure but it may be illegal to sell pine straws in California. However they allow needles almost anywhere so I am told.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

I've found wood chips to be the most effective mulch. Bonus if there's some.. (but I guess? not to many.. never had many so IDK hah) leaves mixed in.

You might consider signing up for https://getchipdrop.com/for-gardeners/ - although you might get between 1 and 20 yards of chips.. with no real way to know ahead of time which it'll be... or when or if they'll show up... but it's either free or $20 (if you click the "refund the arborist fee" option which we did cause incentives are.. incentives...).

I also produce some yards of chips/yr with the chipper but there's only so much energy I have hah.