I think conifer mulch is also very acidic. I agree with Gail, I would let
it age for a bit if you can. I had some chipped-up pine trees dumped on
my
property some years age, and for the longest time the only thing that
would
grow on or around the pile were wild raspberries, which require a sharply
acid soil.
Jeff, Southeast Michigan, Zone 5
"Gail Futoran" <futoran@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:aw7Hj.49379$D_3.7641@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "YMC" <nospamhere_yauchiam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:47ec3efc$0$14479$afc38c87@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Hi there,
>>
>> Its Autumn here in Melbourne, Australia. 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 thought of lopping
>> off the top of the trees- mulching them including the leaves
>> finely - and then using them as compost for my rose garden. I'm
>> allergic to the pine leaves so I'm getting tree pruner to do the
>> job.
>>
>> One old tree pruner however warned me that using fresh conifer pine
>> mulch was a very bad idea and may kill the roses.
>>
>> Is using conifer mulch for the rose garden a bad idea?
>
> Fresh mulch uses up nitrogen in the soil as it
> decomposes. Roses need nitrogen to grow.
> That's probably what your old tree pruner was
> referring to. Whether conifer pine causes more
> of a problem than other types of mulches, I
> don't know. I would be tempted to either
> let it age in a pile first (couple of months?)
> before applying to your rose beds, or add
> nitrogen to the soil to make up for what the
> decomposing mulch is taking out.
>
> You might try googling mulch and nitrogen
> or mulch ageing to find articles on this
> subject. Here's one link I found:
> http://www.jfwalshmulch.com/news.ivnu
> which mentions other potential problems of
> fresh mulch.
>
> Here's a link to an article from a
> non-commercial site:
> http://www.main.org/aog/articles/mulc.htm
>
> Gail
> near San Antonio TX Zone 8 USA
>
>
>
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