Is "pine straw" the same thing as pine needles? Have millions of them, use them for mulch. They work really well because the rain can go right through. Maybe I should worry about them making my soil more acidic?

(Nah, don't want to worry about that, got enough other things to worry about!)

I tried to go the Ruth Stout way last year. Well, the mice just seemed to love the idea, so this year I had DH pull away the straw and till. Some broken down straw got worked into the ground and I think that's a good thing.

I will mulch with it, but I won't keep it all there over winter.

hello everyone I need your growing advice..
I'm in the tropics and have ordered and received some very, like I mean VERY expensive and special seeds. These plants love sunlight and I have tons of it down here. The problem with that is the watering part, and I won't be around the site except for like once every two weeks however, the garden is next to a creek.

I came across a very interesting article about using straw in commercial grows, they said something about burying straw underneath the soil mix, because it retains water.

My question to all you experienced growers is will the burying straw concept actually retain water? and could the combination of the straw buried underneath he soil mix, and the fact that the garden is next to a creek make my garden a self-watering garden?

Pine straw is simply baled pine needles, yes. I use it when I want a nice, brown appearing mulch without using bark, but it makes a good mulch on just about everything. I use straw/hay (about the same cost where I am) because it's cheaper than pine straw, but if I had access to pine straw I'd use it more. I wouldn't worry about it acidifying the soil too much. If you know what your Ph level is now and watch for any effect on your plants over time, you might want to add a bit of lime, but if you're ok now it should take years to make any difference. Continued additions of organic matter should leave you in good shape.
Maltese--did you go the WHOLE Ruth Stout way?? LOL

quote:

Maltese--did you go the WHOLE Ruth Stout way?? LOL

Why is it that even people that know almost nothing about Ruth Stout know that she liked to garden au natural?

Wayne

Pine straw does take a long time to break down, but as it does it really helps to improve the heaviness of clay soil – it's used EVERYWHERE here in the Carolinas for mulching, probably because it's so abundant.

Well we can pick up the tidbits while learning about the no-work ethics of gardening can't we????

For those too new to know I do mulch my planting beds, mostly with shredded leaves although I have used straw and spoiled hay. I learned many years ago that tilling organic matter into this sand did little to increase the humus (residual level of organic matter) but piling on the same OM as mulch would.
Pine Straw and Pine needles are one and the same thing whether they are baled or not.

That's been my experience with trying to till organic matter into clay--using it as mulch and doing raised beds is my best bet. Straw, shredded leaves, even sawdust and aged wood chips works well to increase tilth and humus.