Mulching Pine Needles Into Grass

[Exact Rototilling]

Originally Posted by Kiril

I wouldn't recommend putting much faith in that doc.

Tell us more...worst offender needles here are ponderosa pine with those super long needles. I typically bag those lawns. Not sure if they would mulch well?
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[Kiril]

I was commenting on his lack of proper methodology. You need to find a better source of information.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by AllBrad

no my bobcat will mow mulch the straw fine enough that it falls to the soil. I will come back and blow off anything that is too thick. Between oak leaves, pinestraw, and grass clippings, everything will break down rapidly.
Mr. Exactotill, everything around here is slightly acidic anyways. We recieve around 60 inches of rain a year. Most lawn types are St. Augustine or Centepede, and the average ph level is around 6.0- 6.5. As for flower beds, we love camellias and azaleas in the south. Everything seems to trive if we just cut, water, and add a little compost or milorganite once a year. My ph levels are checked once a year, and they all have leveled out and stayed in check.

OK got it... We do have a slightly different situation here, but I do have a relatively active mulch going on in the lawns now, so they may be able to absorb a few pine needles... I'll start slow...

[RigglePLC]

I mulch mow most of my oak leaves into my lawn (two 75 foot white oaks.) I can check the pH tomorrow with my meter. The pH was 6.8 in 1999.
Wife blows them from flower beds into lawn. I mulch them repeatedly with lawn mower in grass. We remove only the heaviest accumulations with a snow shovel. Within a few days or rain the grass grows up through the residue.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by RigglePLC

I mulch mow most of my oak leaves into my lawn (two 75 foot white oaks.) I can check the pH tomorrow with my meter. The pH was 6.8 in 1999.
Wife blows them from flower beds into lawn. I mulch them repeatedly with lawn mower in grass. We remove only the heaviest accumulations with a snow shovel. Within a few days or rain the grass grows up through the residue.

Good to know...

[RigglePLC]

Ok, I checked the pH in the area were we mulch our oak leaves. I used my inexpensive garden store pH meter. PH was 6.8 in both the front yard and the back yard where the oak leaves are mulched. My university soil test also came back as 6.8, but that was in 1999. Maybe I can find an area that has a lot of pine trees and pine needles to test with my meter. If I find a spruce tree does that count?

[RigglePLC]

I checked under several evergreen trees at the botanic garden. 60 foot scots pine, 18 inch diameter: pH 7.

30 foot Serbian spruce pH 6.9. I will try to find more.

[Smallaxe]

I believe the idea of pine needles and oak leaves lowering the pH of the soil is a myth...