"YMC" <nospamhere_yauchiam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:47ec4aea$0$8437$afc38c87@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hi there,
>
> I have a row of conifer pine trees - medium size - dark green leaves.
They
> are about 6 metres tall and are due for a good prune back.
>
> I believe they are called Castlewellan Gold.
>
> Here's a link to a photo.
> http://www.ballarat.net/avalon/cypress.htm
>
> I thought of lopping off the top of the trees- mulching them including
the
> leaves finely - and then using them as mulch for my rose garden. I'm
> allergic to the pine leaves so I'm getting tree pruner to do the job.
>
> One old grizzled tree pruner however warned me that using fresh conifer
> pine mulch was a very bad idea and will kill the roses or any other
plant.
> He said the best thing to do is to throw them away. or if I wanted to
use
> them, to put them in compost bins and wait for 12 months.
>
> Is using conifer mulch for the garden a bad idea? I didn't realize it
was
> toxic.
pines notoriously prevent anything else from growing near them, so yeah.
however, i'm personally not sure if it's just the acidity of the dropped
leaves, or if only the living trees are able to have this effect. (or
perhaps both).
having said that, acid-lovers such as strawberries (in particular) & other
berries such as blueberries apparently benefit from pine leaf mulch. i've
just mulched my strawberries with old pine needles but that was just the
other day, so nothing to re****t yet ;-)
if i were you, i'd have the pruner mulch all the trimmings into a pile,
leave it for a while, & then use it to mulch something acid-loving about
the
garden. if you don't already have a strawberry patch, crowns will be
available for sale in the winter & you can put them in & mulch them with
your by-then-somewhat-aged conifer mulchings!
not that i am bugging you to have a strawberry patch, but they're a
good-looking, low-maintenance, productive ground-cover, will grow
seemingly
anywhere, and soil acidity is never a problem. ;-)
failing that, i should think it would be perfectly all right to distribute
the (aged) mulch thinly all about the garden after you've left it for some
time, just avoiding anything you know really likes alkaline conditions,
just
in case.
kylie
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