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Florida Gardening

Mulch, pine straw or fine pine bark ?

11 years ago

I have been using pine bark mulch in the past for my roses. Another rose grower told me that he prefers pine straw for them. I have shyed away from the straw as I had always heard that it is a better home for scorpions. Does anyone have first hand experience with both, and if so what do you prefer ?
Thanks,
Don

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Comments (3)

starryrider
11 years ago
I lived in a house with lots of pine trees and always used the needles for mulch. I never had an issue with scorpions.
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Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
11 years ago
I have both and I also have not had issues with scorpions. Scorpions like to hide under things, like logs, lumber and rocks, and pine straw, for me at least, mattes too quick to make for a very likely place for scorpions to hide. If anything, I would think they would prefer the pine nuggets since there is space between them. The pine straw does break down much faster though.

Edit: Not that I've bothered thinking about it much for my roses, but I think I would actually alternate with the two. Lay down a layer of pine straw and then top with the bark. That way you get both a quick and then a slow infusion of organic matter. It might be something worth experimenting with... perhaps I'll try that, just to see what happens.

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 10:11
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floridadon
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you both for your feedback, experience is always the best teacher.
Don
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