| Click to Post a New Message!
Page [ 1 ] |
|
|
|
Leaves on fields
There are some pros that comment here from time to time, so maybe there'll be some very good responses.
Myself, I think that too heavy a layer of leafs or pine needles will kill grass and probably wouldn't work well for over-seeding. We use an ordinary riding mower to windrow leafs in the fall. The windrows are pushed onto large tarps and dragged or trailered to a composting pit in our bush. What the riding mower leaves is pretty well broken up and is more or less OK as mulch.
|
|
 Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Leaves on fields
There is 3ph implement called a pine needle rake mentioned in the archives among the ways people deal with their needles. Somewhere I recall hearing of something called a pine straw baler. Baled pine needles? Somebody must have a use for them. Don't know, you hear about straw bale houses, maybe a pine needle house.
For me, the needles are just another excuse to go to the dump. My wife likes to rake the things for reasons I've never understood. We just bag them and cart them away in the fall when the township starts burning their brush piles. I figure that maybe the needles help get the stumps we aren't supposed to put there going. I don’t know what you’d do without a willing raker. Figure I’ve outgrown being a rake myself.
The dump is a pretty good solution. If I don't go to the dump, there are neighbours I don't see for months and news I never hear. Besides, if we got rid of the pine trees, then I'd just end up putting the stumps somewhere where they aren't supposed to be and probably break my tractor doing it. Would be a way to have a chat with the dump superintendent though, but I’d still end up at the dump. All roads lead etc.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Leaves on fields
Peters: Red Green--now there's a Canadian reference. My brother in law is a big fan but he went to New Jersey. Tried to call him one day and there he was, gone. Must have taken my lessons with him too. Just as well I guess. I don't want to get to like Red too much since I'm happy where I am. Don't know if there's connection of course.
I might be laying it on a little thick here, but after all, I'm just an educated hick. Took me 50 years to figure it out. Who knows, I may have been fortunate enough to have skipped the educated part if rural electrification came through sooner for my folks. I’ve been in the buz of shedding the city part of me like a pair of winter Stanfields (another obscure Canadian reference) for awhile. But 'All's Well That Ends Well' I guess.
I do find the idea of baling pine needles curious though--guess that's because everybody's is about knee deep in them around here. The idea of somebody buying them is even more curious, but what ever works. I got my introduction to pine needle management doing my air Force tech school in Biloxi, Miss. A hundred and twenty some pines in the squadron area and the needless were raked three times a day. Got so aggravating I actually counted the dang trees. They must have been yellow pines, and they seemed to shed needles continuously.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Leaves on fields
We have around 2-acres of lawn that we finish mow and remove leafs and pine needles. Our bush is on its own.
Last spring I made a shallow excavation in a bush clearing for leafs, bedding straw etc. I pushed back the mound, used some of the material, added more and re-mounded last fall and again this spring.
I'll till in some lime and a bit of fertilizer soon. I'm reluctant to use much lime and fertilizer because I don't want to get a roaring composting action going. I've seen seriously smoldering piles of sawdust due to spontaneous combustion. I don't know the potential here, but I'd just as soon not have that happen in our bush. At any rate, last spring's material seems to be pretty well composted when I pushed the mound back a week ago but nothing much had happened over the winter.
At any rate, it seems like a year in the pit does the job on leafs, which is fast enough, and I don't have to accelerated the action much. We get leafs off the lawn, dispose of them and have something useful left over. My wife did add pine needles to the pit last fall. I guess my attitude is that needles won’t compost very well, and they didn’t over the winter. I suppose time will tell.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Leaves on fields
Thanks for the comments Peters--even though it's still talking about leafs. I've now got hopes that I may see some progress in needle reduction by fall. It's always tricky explaining to wives that their ideas didn't work--now I've got hope I may not have to. There are enough pine needles around here that piling then up does remind a person about fire hazards. We have taken trailer loads of needles to the dump for that reason so I'll be happy if they compost.
We had a flock of at least 60 robins in our year until a few days ago when they paired up and dispersed. The yard was a sea of orange. Reminded me of a lady bug plague that I could live with. Dang! Can't stop talking about them bugs either.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Page [ 1 ] | Thread 35653 Filter by Poster:
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
|
()
Picture of the Day
rockingo
Unanswered Questions
Active Subjects
Hot Topics
Featured Suppliers
|
Gas Generator Weather Protecti
02-17-2002, 06:22 
Digg It 
Del.icio.us