Besides the fact Pine Straw mulch is a sustainable, renewable resource, it’s so wonderful and lightweight to work with pine needle and looks very attractive. Young seedlings can grow through pine needle, water can filter down through it, the soil can breathe and yet pine straw still holds in moisture. It lasts much longer than other similar materials and pine needle won’t be adrift away with the first drenching rain.

In fall mulching with pine straw has an important function since temperatures in the late fall to wintertime months can change radically. The ground heaves as it freezes and thaws, forcing the root systems of many delicate plants up from the soil and exposing them to the elements. Just about all plants are much healthier when they have a bed of pine needle mulch spread over their roots.

When mulching with pine straw you should wait until the ground is frozen or all but frozen before you add the pine needle. Any earlier covering will futher mold and mildew to form on the surface. Generally, a 2- to 3-inch layer of pine needle mulch placed over the root zone of a plant will provide a detectable difference in the plant’s health. Established plants will show less stress and better growth. Just be sure to pull pine straw mulch an inch or two out from the stems of shrubs or from the trunks of trees. If pine needle mulch is piled up against trunks or stems, it can contain too much h2o and promote decay on the bark.

Many people make the mistake of using less reliable fall mulch such as hay in their garden. Hay is not a good choice to pine straw since hay often carries seeds that will in time sprout and cause weed problems in your garden bed in the spring. Pine straw comes from several different species of pine trees that drop their pine needles or ?straw? naturally throughout the year. Once the pine needle drops to the ground, it is cleaned and baled, without ever taking down a single tree. Since it is produced naturally, pine straw sometimes is referred to as the “guilt-free” mulch. Each species’ of pine needle will have its own unique characteristics, such as pine needle length, wax content and needle flexibility. The Loblolly species of pine straw, for instance, has a pine needle length ranging from about six to nine inches, making it simple to use and shape. Also, the needle size is optimum for allowing the soil to breathe well while allowing first-class water infiltration.

Ideally, garden mulch for the winter is added in the fall to protect against sudden and extreme temperature dips before plants have had a chance to fully harden. A few inches of pine straw mulch can provide a cushion of as much as 10 degrees above ambient air temperatures which is just enough to keep roots growing. And certainly, a top layer of pine needle mulch offers decorative appeal, devising the yard to look cared for at a time when the lawn can look a little underwhelming.