Pine shavings between rows

9 years ago

I've been trying to figure this out but there is conflicting information everywhere. We have a WHOLE lot of fresh pine shavings from pine boards we are planing ourselves. The wood came from a local sawmill, and was kiln dried but has not been treated with chemicals. I'm using them in my little chicken coop but I'd like to use them between my beds in the garden, not in the beds themselves. The beds are raised a bit, but not a lot and are enclosed with wood. Between the beds, there is no way to keep the weeds and grass out, we are surrounded by cow pastures and every kind of weed you can imagine ends up growing in the garden. I can keep the beds weeded but not the between them. It doesn't take long for all the weeds to start creeping in the beds. I don't use poison. I'd like to put cardboard down, then a thick layer of the pine shavings. I don't think the issues people say happen when you actually put them on the plant would apply, but wanted to check. I also plant a few watermelons in one bed, which grow out of the bed and take over one section of the garden area, which is fenced in. Weeds become a problem under the plant, no matter what I do. I've put a thick layer of straw where the watermelon will grow out to, and that works for a while but the darn weeds always find their way through the straw. I thought the cardboard and pine would work under that also.

Mother Earth News had an article in the Oct/Nov 2010 issue that says pine shavings aren't bad to use in the garden, that it is myth that they acidify the soil and that if you mix them with blood meal, it actually is good for the garden (of course it said a lot more than that).

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Comments (7)

ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
9 years ago
Research has been done and it has found that pine tree residue has no effect on soil pH.

pH is a measure of free H+ (positively charged hydrogen) ions (more H+ = lower pH = acid). I personally do not see a pine needle releasing any more H+ then a tomato leaf, and research has backed that up.

I think the main problem cited with using wood mulch as a type of "green manure" is the idea that in the early stages of decomposition, wood mulch takes in nutrients before it releases them. I have no idea if this is true or if it is just as much of a wives tale as pine needles acidifying your soil.

As a walkway? I would use them in a heartbeat. I like free stuff and no doubt weeds encroaching on your garden beds is going be far more competition than a wood mulch walkway.
digdirt2
9 years ago
Agree, for permanent paths and walkways, fine. But not where they will be incorporated into the garden soil because as Zach said there is too much nitrogen binding and all sorts of resulting problems.

I read the ME article. It was one guys opinion and there is just too much evidence to the contrary. Sure add enough blood meal to compensate for the wood and you "might" be ok. But how much is enough and how much is too much?

Of course the blood meal could also burn the plant roots and provide huge glorious plants with no fruit production but hey, the pine shavings would be fine. :)

Better to mix them in your compost pile or make one using them and let them do their thing there until next year.

Dave
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lucillle
9 years ago
Pine shavings are lightweight, won't they get displaced if it gets windy?
I use wood chip mulch and add nitrogen and it seems to be fine in my garden.
seysonn
9 years ago
I also think that it is fine in walkways and between the rows.

Nitrogen binding also has a limit and it cannot go on for ever. Once the carbon material get saturated with water or nitrogen rich solution and other minerals, it cannot take anymore water or nitrogen. After a while it can act a regulator ; holding nitrogen then releasing it, as it decomposes. Nitrogen is not the only thing that a carbon material will absorb. There are numerous salts and minerals in the soil.
planatus
9 years ago
We often use mixed wood chips from the nearby sawmill to pave our paths, and rotted sawdust when we can get it. You may find that cardboard under the chips gets slippery underfoot. We have several lengths of black geotextile fabric we spread over the cleaned paths in spring, before piling on the wood chips. Some weeds get in it during the summer, but they are not so well rooted that you can't pull up the fabric along a long edge, dump the rotted-to-black wood chips in adjoining beds, and flip it over for the next year's use. This stuff is five years old and still going strong.
veggievicki
9 years ago
We have piney woods all around us and there is no shortage of stuff growing in there. So hard to imagine it could be harmful on a path. Since it was kiln dried it would be "cured" to some extent. I would think by the end of summer if some ends up getting into your soil, it would be ok. I use shavings in my chickens, then gets composted and then to the garden. Also I mulch my flower beds with pine bark. I think it's the fresh stuff going directly on the bed that is the real issue. It sounds like you're concerned that it will leach something over onto your growing bed, and as I understand it the issue with fresh shavings is that it pulls nutrient from the soil. As to the earlier post about won't it blow away, the minute it gets wet, it will stay put, so wet it down with a spray hose to get it to stay where you want it.
mother_necessity
9 years ago
We chipped-up fallen pine trees and got a mix of bark, wood and needles. Used in garden paths between beds the past two years. Beds are mounded, not boxed in with wood. The only issue is that some of the mixture gets in the beds, up the sides. Will be looking for evidence this year to see if there has been any effect (eg. lower pH), but use so much compost and manure that I think it will be a wash. Plants of all kinds (from strawberries to tomatoes) the past few years don't seem to have been affected at all. Free = good, path weeds = bad.

Pine shavings between rows

Comments (7)

ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado

digdirt2

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