I've read this folk tale several times in the past few weeks. Composted pine
needles are almost neutral in pH. Thank you, that is all.

Dave

On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:06:51 GMT, "David J Bockman"
wrote:

I've read this folk tale several times in the past few weeks. Composted pine
needles are almost neutral in pH. Thank you, that is all.

Dave

Umm who would compost them first? How about ones picked up off the
forest floor, or under your own trees, and plunked down in the
blueberry patch?

I've seen many references to Oak leaves, and how you shouldn't use
them in your compost bins as it makes the compost too acid. I thought
GREAT when I saw that, and thought where I could find some oak leaves
as I'm WEST of the rockies in the alkaline ground and water world!

I figure pretty much anything that's acid would make good mulch in the
blueberry patch! ;-) Well, not anything, some things would have to
be laced with nitrogen to keep it from robbing it from the soil as it
decomposed.

"Janice" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:06:51 GMT, "David J Bockman"
wrote:

I've read this folk tale several times in the past few weeks. Composted
pine
needles are almost neutral in pH. Thank you, that is all.

Dave

Umm who would compost them first? How about ones picked up off the
forest floor, or under your own trees, and plunked down in the
blueberry patch?

I've seen many references to Oak leaves, and how you shouldn't use
them in your compost bins as it makes the compost too acid. I thought
GREAT when I saw that, and thought where I could find some oak leaves
as I'm WEST of the rockies in the alkaline ground and water world!

I figure pretty much anything that's acid would make good mulch in the
blueberry patch! ;-) Well, not anything, some things would have to
be laced with nitrogen to keep it from robbing it from the soil as it
decomposed.

Properly composted ANYTHING will result in a product that has nearly neutral
pH and you would need an awful lot of uncomposted material like pine needles
to significantly alter soil pH. At the most, uncomposted pine needles or
other acidic debris will slightly modify surface pH, but not substantially.
Oak leaves are perfectly suitable to add to compost - they just tend to take
longer to breakdown due to the amount of tannins they contain. But unless
they are the primary ingredient in your compost, once that process has been
completed, you should still have a nearly neutral product.

pam - gardengal

On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:06:51 GMT, "David J Bockman"
wrote:

I've read this folk tale several times in the past few weeks. Composted pine
needles are almost neutral in pH. Thank you, that is all.

Dave

Umm who would compost them first? How about ones picked up off the
forest floor, or under your own trees, and plunked down in the
blueberry patch?

I've seen many references to Oak leaves, and how you shouldn't use
them in your compost bins as it makes the compost too acid. I thought
GREAT when I saw that, and thought where I could find some oak leaves
as I'm WEST of the rockies in the alkaline ground and water world!

I figure pretty much anything that's acid would make good mulch in the
blueberry patch! ;-) Well, not anything, some things would have to
be laced with nitrogen to keep it from robbing it from the soil as it
decomposed.

"Janice" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:06:51 GMT, "David J Bockman"
wrote:

I've read this folk tale several times in the past few weeks. Composted
pine
needles are almost neutral in pH. Thank you, that is all.

Dave

Umm who would compost them first? How about ones picked up off the
forest floor, or under your own trees, and plunked down in the
blueberry patch?

I've seen many references to Oak leaves, and how you shouldn't use
them in your compost bins as it makes the compost too acid. I thought
GREAT when I saw that, and thought where I could find some oak leaves
as I'm WEST of the rockies in the alkaline ground and water world!

I figure pretty much anything that's acid would make good mulch in the
blueberry patch! ;-) Well, not anything, some things would have to
be laced with nitrogen to keep it from robbing it from the soil as it
decomposed.

Properly composted ANYTHING will result in a product that has nearly neutral
pH and you would need an awful lot of uncomposted material like pine needles
to significantly alter soil pH. At the most, uncomposted pine needles or
other acidic debris will slightly modify surface pH, but not substantially.
Oak leaves are perfectly suitable to add to compost - they just tend to take
longer to breakdown due to the amount of tannins they contain. But unless
they are the primary ingredient in your compost, once that process has been
completed, you should still have a nearly neutral product.

pam - gardengal

"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:jddcc.190467$Cb.1727081@attbi_s51...

Properly composted ANYTHING will result in a product that has nearly
neutral
pH and you would need an awful lot of uncomposted material like pine
needles
to significantly alter soil pH. At the most, uncomposted pine needles or
other acidic debris will slightly modify surface pH, but not
substantially.
Oak leaves are perfectly suitable to add to compost - they just tend to
take
longer to breakdown due to the amount of tannins they contain. But unless
they are the primary ingredient in your compost, once that process has
been
completed, you should still have a nearly neutral product.

pam - gardengal

For what it's worth, I have a chipper-shredder and shred huge quantities of
oak leaves every fall. I don't incorporate them into a compost pile but keep
them in covered bins so they don't get wet and use them as mulch the
following spring. It works great around peonies and other flowers, peppers,
onions, corn, etc., and has the advantage of being easy to place around
small plants. A 2-3 inch layer keeps down weeds and keeps in moisture just
as well as wood mulch and doesn't have the weed seeds found in straw or hay.
It forms a layer that is dry on top and crusty on the bottom.

The best part is that it can be worked into the soil in the fall as humus.

John