• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • paul wheaton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
  • Tereza Okava
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Megan Palmer

Using Pine Mulch in Food Forest Swales

 
Posts: 13
Location: Maricopa County, Arizona
3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I've got a LOT of pine on the property. The previous owner planted 500+ white pines as a wind break and privacy barrier. I'd like to replace those with something that serves those functions and still other functions. In the end, I've got a lot of pine to bring down. I've started using downed pines in hugelkultur swales along which I'll plant a food forest. I'm torn between using a resource that I have (pine) and using something that might be a better fungal medium (hardwood mulch provided commercially). How much does using pine set me back in terms of developing the soil that will be beneficial for a food forest?

Thanks,
Dan
 
permaculture orchardist
Posts: 120
15
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dan, use what you have and work with it. Don't fight it. Seems like the site is gardened for itself to be fungal dominated with pine. Plant what pines like. I would go big into highbush blueberries, they love to be associated with pines. Just make sure your soil has enough iron. If not enough use rusty old metal at the base of each blueberry and mulch. My take.
 
pollinator
Posts: 4148
Location: Kansas Zone 6a
328
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
When I lived in NC, pine needle mulch was HIGHLY sought after--so desirable they had problems with people STEALING MULCH!!! It may be valuable enough to trade a landscape company that has an abundance of hardwood mulch at a very favorable rate--get a dumptruck of hardwood mulch for a pickup load of needles. Longshot, but worth a look if you don't want blueberries. But who wouldn't want blueberries....
 
He's dead Jim. Grab his tricorder. I'll get his wallet and this tiny ad:
Rocket Mass Heater Resources Wiki
https://permies.com/w/rmh-resources
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic