good to see you, deport. thanks for posting.
Explains all the pine trees in northwest Florida. Even the creek bottoms have bright white sandy soil.
PLEASE do not link to pay-sites.
ML/NJ
My mother in law lived in the Country Club of NC in Pinehurst. Landscapers came in daily with huge trucks of needles to scatter. Residents are retired and quite well off. I never knew though that these needles were so popular. We visited for 20+ years.
We had lots of them in northern Wisconsin...
Pine needles very popular landscaping ground cover in the southeast U.S.. Lived in south west Ohio (Cincinnati area) and mulch was the big deal in that part of the U.S.. The landscaping companies would have small mountains of it piled up and ready to go each spring by late March.
I once lived in a small city in the mountains above 7K feet which had a huge fire. A resident I knew happened to rake up all the pine needles in her yard the day before the fire. Her house was the only one left on the block afterwards.
Used to tell my neighbor not to buy any more pine straw bales at Home Depot. He can rake mine up for free!
I live near the coast an hour south of Tampa, Florida.
In my neighborhood people are cutting down the slash pines that used to cover my neighborhood.
It is also a common practice to cut off the lower limbs. I believe that that practice makes the tree more likely to get blown over in a hurricane. People with money can be very destructive.
I planted four seedlings in my large backyard that are now about thirty to forty feet tall.
I often use the needles as mulch after chopping the needles up with a lawnmower.
The pine cones are a large and plentiful problem.
Not much can grow through it!
I never knew. I always thought those large swaths of pine trees were there to keep the sand from blowing into the ocean. Ha Ha.
I learned my “something new” early this morning.
Thanks for posting that article.
Yes pine straw is gold in the southern states. The one single problem I’ve encountered are the timber rattlers that blend in mighty well in that stuff. They’ll typically not rattle until you are right on them or step on them. Wear snake boots!!!
In its infinite wisdom, our USDA put in a plan to stimulate the population of quail in GA. This involved, among other things, not collecting pine straw. Some tracts have it a foot deep now. I can’t say as to how it has affected the quail population, but we have pine straw out the wazoo.
Every area has natural “waste” products.
Pine straw in the southeast, leaves and grass clippings in the northeast etc. . .
Surplus apples or pears added to your batch and have a flavorful ale.
I read of a company making caskets out of nut shells. Yep, it’s true.
The million dollar idea is to figure out how to put them to productive use.
Ground up, two year composted straw from the run in with a generous helping of composted leaves, pit through a sifter sells for a boatload of cash per yard.
Poop and leaves, left out in the weather for two years is worth money.
What a country!
Fun fact: Almost all of the dry mass of a tree comes from air, not from soil.
Otherwise, there would be a tree-size hole around the tree.
Watch out for ticks, as they love pine needle straw nests.
“He could get $4,000 an acre for clear-cutting his mature longleaf pines for timber. “
Surely it’s more.
An acre of fir on the west coast will bring at least $20k.
Excellent video about the longleaf pine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJWG7raBlT8&ab_channel=SmarterEveryDay2
I hate pine trees! If they have had pine borers get under the bark, they make the sap run and eventually the tree dies. I told some people if I ever have my own place, I would get rid of the pine trees!