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By Dan Rahn
University of Georgia
Georgia pines have started raining pine straw early this year.
And yes, somebody has to rake it all up. But pine straw can be
more of a blessing than a chore, said University of Georgia
specialist Bob Westerfield.
"If you use it right, pine straw can actually help you have less
yard work to do," said Westerfield, a UGA Cooperative Extension
consumer horticulturist.
Pine straw can free you, he said, from having to do so much:
- Mowing. Contoured pine straw
islands, with just a few plants, can replace large areas of
high-maintenance lawn. Where you already have groups of shrubs or
trees, use pine straw to tie them together, he said. Then you
won't have to mow around them individually.
- Watering. Sunshine and wind
will take away much less water if the soil surface is covered
with mulch, he said. Reduce water needs with pine straw mulch
around shrubs and in flower beds.
- Weeding. Mulches help control
weeds, he said. That provides two advantages: One, you don't have
to pull weeds yourself. And two, you don't have to spray chemical
herbicides around your yard.
Extension foresters say pine straw actually falls year-round. But
needle-fall is heaviest in fall, winter and early spring.
If you have more pine straw than you can use in the fall, just
find an out-of-the-way place to pile it up and save it.
Next spring, you could be happy you did. For all the reasons it's
so good in your landscape, pine straw can be just as valuable as
a mulch in your vegetable garden.
It can help keep the soil moist in small gardens, raised bed
gardens or small beds of vegetable plantings. It can be good for
mulching small fruits, too, such as strawberries or blueberries.
It can also help keep soil from washing from heavy rains,
Westerfield said. That protects water quality and keeps you from
having to repair eroded areas.
Here are some tips, he said, to help make the most of your pine
straw.
Don't replace. Replenish. One of
the benefits of mulching, he said, is the organic matter it adds
to the soil as it decomposes. Don't remove the old straw. Just
add new straw on top of the old to make a layer at least 2 to 4
inches thick. That's the least it will take to be effective.
Don't pile it on too thick. "I
don't know that it will hurt so much," Westerfield said. "But any
more than about 6 inches just won't do any more good."
Leave room around the stems.
Especially with azaleas, he said, mulch piled up around the stems
can lead a second root system to develop. That often happens at
the expense of the deeper roots, which leaves the azalea even
more susceptible to drought damage.
Don't just stuff it underneath.
Spread it beyond the drip line, the line right under the
outermost leaves. Getting it over the feeder roots is the key, he
said.
Mulch young trees. It's really
important in the first two or three years, he said. With
shallow-rooted trees like dogwood, redbud or crape myrtle it's
good to mulch even after that.
Don't use landscape fabric under the
straw unless your main purpose is complete weed control.
If that's the case, you won't need as thick a layer of straw.
In most cases, Westerfield said, pine straw that's 2 inches deep
after it settles does 90 percent of what you'd expect the fabric
or plastic liner to do. And 4 to 5 inches of fresh straw will
settle to about 2 inches.
(Dan Rahn is a news editor with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
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