Use of pine needles in the country. How does the nutrition of conifers differ from ordinary trees? Why do cultivated plants need needles?

Not long ago we looked at conifers and conifers, which can be planted on the site to make it more harmonious. After this publication, our readers began to ask about the use of pine needles on summer cottage. We will devote our new material to this topic.

Acidity of pine needles - myth or reality?

Many gardeners and gardeners suffer from coniferous trees on the site, because every year you need to collect and remove (or burn) several kilograms of needles. Why? Because the needles, supposedly, can spoil the soil and nothing else will grow there - the soil will become so acidic. Sometimes articles about sour needles can be found even in respected magazines. This misconception turns out to be even more harmful.

Take a look here:

The acidity (or pH) of rainwater is 5.6. The acidity of Scots pine needles is 6. The acidity of some sandy loam soils is 7. Do you feel an awkward moment? The needles are more neutral than the soil in some areas and, as a result, cannot spoil it.

Further more: when rain and pine needles interact, the joint effect is not cumulative (acidity does not increase), but neutralizing (on the contrary, it decreases!). That is, acidity will be maintained at the optimal level for most plants, 5.7-5.9.

The use of needles in a summer cottage

What can you use pine and spruce needles for:

1. To combat snails and slugs. They are repelled by terpenes, which is why The best way protect the plant from slugs - surround it with a “coat” of needles.

2. For fertilizing plants that love acidic soil.

3. Use for mulching. All the needles can go into mulch, even if your area is surrounded by pine trees.

4. As a “support” for strawberries and strawberries - when the berries are raised above the ground, the bushes bear fruit better, and the crop does not suffer from attacks by mole crickets and others.

5. For compost. Under the influence of rain and snow, the needles rot well. For the best effect, collect the leaves and cover them with a layer of pine needles: this way the leaves will not fly apart and will stimulate the rotting process from the inside.

Plants that love acidic soil

So, plants that can and should be fertilized with pine and spruce needles:

Zinnia, aster, petunia, poppy, purslane, sage, sunflower, peas, tulip, rose, primrose, nasturtium, bindweed, lavender, iris, hyacinth, gladiolus, forget-me-not, delphinium, bindweed, cosmos, crocus, chrysanthemum, calendula and many others . Thus, if you have a large flower garden, then pine fertilizers are just what you need.

Lucky are those summer residents whose plots are located near a pine forest. After all, pine needles can be used in the widest possible way in the garden: it is both an excellent mulch and a highly effective organic fertilizer, and a means of pest control. And also with the help pine needles You can grow a rich harvest of garden strawberries.

How to use pine needles as mulch

Pine mulch protects strawberries from contamination and even improves their taste. Use it as follows:

in early spring, as soon as the soil dries, remove old dead leaves from strawberry plants, loosen the rows and apply fertilizer (you can read about caring for strawberries in spring);
cover the entire strawberry plot with a layer of 4 to 5 centimeters of pine needles;
upon completion of fruiting, remove the coniferous litter (this must be done, since when decomposing the needles have the property of acidifying the soil and drawing nitrogen out of it), spill it with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate and dry it in the sun;
Place dry pine needles in garbage or sugar bags.

If handled with care, pine needles will last you up to 4 years without adding a fresh portion. Thanks to this mulch strawberry patch Weeds will almost stop growing, and you will practically not have to water or loosen the soil during the summer. And the needles will block access to the garden bed for snails and other creeping pests.

You can also mulch the soil with pine needles. tree trunk circles garden trees to prevent roots from freezing during harsh winters, as well as for purely aesthetic purposes. Mulch is poured in a layer of 5 to 7 centimeters in a radius of 1 meter around the trunks of young trees and in a radius of 1.5 to 2 meters for adults.

Especially good use pine and spruce needles as mulches for garden crops, if on your site carbonate or neutral soil.

Coniferous litter is also good for covering paths between vegetable beds, and dried or half-decomposed needles can be used to insulate winter crops and even sprinkled between rows.

Even more interesting tips on the use of pine needles as mulch can be found in this article - “”

Needles as fertilizer

Needles are a valuable organic fertilizer if you know how to apply them correctly.

Since direct addition of fresh pine needles to the soil has a depressing effect on plants, it must first be prepared by composting.

They do it like this:

Peat is poured onto a flat area protected from rain with a layer of 10-15 centimeters or 5-7 centimeters of humus (you can also add fallen leaves and other soft plant debris from the garden there).
The substrate is lightly compacted and pine or spruce litter is placed on top in a layer of 15 to 30 centimeters.
To remove sourness from the compost, the needles are sprinkled with phosphate rock, ground limestone, powdered chalk or dolomite (the volume of these materials should be from 2 to 3% of the total weight of the compost).
Spill the future compost with a strong mullein solution or plain water.
Repeat steps 1-4 until the pile reaches 1.5-2 meters in height (its main width should be 2-3 meters).
Most upper layer must consist of peat (earth) and be at least 20 centimeters thick.

It should be remembered that compost based on pine needles takes a long time to decompose, from two to three years. It should be used only after full ripening, that is, when it is a homogeneous, dark brown mass with a characteristic “mushroom” smell.

Needles in the garden to combat diseases and pests

Dried and powdered pine needles will help cleanse your garden of many diseases and pests. This natural and absolutely safe biostimulator will not only reduce the degree of damage to plants harmful insects and diseases, but will also increase the yield by up to 40%!

To prepare the preparation, dry thin branches of pine and spruce needles for 1-2 weeks, pass them through a meat grinder or blender and use as follows:

for prevention, powdery mildew and gray rot, dust every 1.5-2 weeks vegetable plants pine needle powder (from 5 to 20 grams / square meter beds);
to repel the onion fly from the onion bed, sprinkle the soil around the plants with pine flour twice - in mid-May and early summer;
so that the cabbage doesn't bother you cabbage fly, mulch the soil around the planted seedlings of this crop with a thin layer of pine powder and repeat the procedure after 2 weeks;
carrots will not suffer from this if every two weeks, starting from the first ten days of June, you dust the root crop plantings with chopped pine needles;
Cabbage whites and melon aphids also cannot stand the pine smell - cabbage beds are treated against these pests twice, at the beginning of summer and in the third decade of June;
add one small handful of pine repellent to the holes when planting potatoes, and the wireworm will forget the way to the potato field.

Pine and spruce branches are also often used to protect the trunks of young trees from the teeth of rodents in winter. However, old nylon tights are still better suited for this purpose, since the needles from spruce branches tend to quickly crumble, which negates its protective function.

I am sure that this list of options for using pine needles in the garden is far from complete. How do you use this free organic matter in your garden?

I also recommend watching a short video about the benefits of pine needles for the garden.

STRAWBERRY LOVES CONINES. With the onset of spring, when the return of cold weather has passed, remove the old leaf from the garden bed, loosen the soil with fertilizers and, after new leaves begin to “sprout”, cover the entire bed with pine needles (dry fallen needles) with a layer of 5 cm. Grass will not grow through the needles, When watering from a watering can through pine needles, the soil will not become compacted, and there will be no need for frequent watering and loosening the soil during the summer. In any rainy weather, the berries lying on the pine needles are always clean. Until the end of the harvest, all worries will be reduced to watering (sometimes with fertilizer) and rationing of the remaining bushes. Leave 1 - 2 early tendrils on the bush with the first rosette. Root, spreading the needles for subsequent planting in the “school”. After harvesting, remove the pine needles from the garden bed (there is no need to bury them - the soil will turn sour), pour it with a solution of potassium permanganate, dry it and store it in paper bags until next spring. The needles will last 3-4 years without adding fresh ones. There is no need to be afraid of the acidifying effect. Strawberries tolerate slightly acidic soils well and even produce higher yields. As for protection against slugs, for this would be better suited spruce needles - they are shorter and prickly than pine needles. But strawberries are often mulched with pine needles. This is due to the fact that we simply have more pine forests. Over time, the needles overheat and become softer. Therefore, it is updated periodically. It is better to do this before the berries ripen, when under their weight they fall to the ground. In the forest, pine needles are collected in dry weather or dried in bags. Slugs do not like dry, prickly needles.

If pine or spruce trees grow near your site, you can use pine needles for mulching. It is believed that, just like sawdust, it acidifies the soil. However, some summer residents, having experimented with such mulch on their site, became convinced that this was not the case. But in order to be on the safe side, you should sprinkle a layer of rotted leaves or humus under the needles in the fall.

Mulching strawberry needles is not a complicated procedure at all. The source material collected in the nearest fishing line can be placed between the plants either in its pure form or after mixing it with other plant residues.

Old, fallen pine needles are very suitable as insulation for strawberries. Needle consumption is approximately 1 bag for my standard bed of 22-24 strawberry bushes. A little less pine needles are spent on young strawberries, and a little more on an adult two or three year old one.

Pine and spruce needles are known to most readers mainly by their medicinal properties, which are well studied and widely used in medical practice. According to well-known herbalists in the country, up to 2/3 of all diseases, including cancer, can be cured with the help of pine needles. However, pine needles, as experience shows, are capable of more, including serving humans in their fight against pests and diseases, in increasing soil fertility and plant nutrition to enhance their growth and development.

The most effective results of using pine and spruce needles are known in the fight against pests and diseases fruit and berry crops: codling moth, moth on currants and gooseberries, weevil on raspberries, etc. In all these cases, it is enough to take 1-1.5 kg of needles and infuse it in 10 liters hot water, cool, strain and use a sprayer to treat the trees and bushes, preferably the trunks first, then the branches and then the green crown. This treatment of trees and shrubs is advisable at the beginning of their flowering and 2-3 more times with breaks for a week.

The experience of using pine needles against aphids and honeysuckers is also very effective, and take 2 kg of pine needles per 10 liters of water and infuse for a week, keeping the infusion for about 7 days. dark place and stirring daily. Before use, the infusion is diluted to a ratio in water of 1:3 or 1:5. Both pine and spruce needles provide good results in the fight against cruciferous flea beetle on salads, cauliflower and a number of root crops (radish, turnip, radish, rutabaga, etc.). Moreover, the plants are either sprayed with a solution of infusion in water in a ratio of 1:5, or a mixture of pine needles and water in a ratio of 1:1 is added into the rows of plants. There has also been positive experience in using pine needles in the fight against Colorado potato beetle on potatoes.

It should be noted that spraying fruit and berry needles with a solution vegetable crops can be carried out both in the morning and in the evening, avoiding only periods of dew and rain. To prevent the solution from being lost, you can add 30 g of laundry soap. According to my observations, some gardeners add ash extract to the pine needle solution, which, in combination with soap, eliminates the possibility of soil acidification that occurs when using pine needles. The addition of chopped pine branches and cones by some gardeners to the infused mixture of pine needles and water, according to available information, only weakens the insecticidal properties of the solutions.

Some experience in using pine and spruce needles in last years I also purchased it while growing tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes. In the first case, we added ash to a mixture of pine and spruce needles, boiled the mixture in water, filtered it, and then treated 10 tomato bushes twice with a solution having a 1:5 ratio. By doing this, we were able to encourage them to grow more intensively and eliminate developmental delays. What is important is that the treated bushes bloomed earlier and more friendly than all the others and did not suffer from any disease, and the harvest on them was greater than on the untreated bushes.

But, perhaps, the ones that pleased me the most were strawberries and potatoes, when planting them, in the first case, a mixture of pine needles with sand, ash and compost in equal proportions was used, and in the second case, a mixture of pine needles, bark, ash and compost in the same proportion, and In a strawberry bed, the mixture was embedded in the soil of the top layer, and when planting potatoes, it was applied under the tubers and on them in a volume of about 1 liter per bush. As it turned out, the strawberry bushes, being in such soil and having enough nutrition and moisture, had no pests or diseases, bloomed faster than others and produced a harvest almost 1.5 times greater than before. Moreover, the berries differed not only in their large size, but also had some particularly pleasant taste.

However, the most surprising thing was the potatoes, the planting tubers of which were affected by scab. When we dug up the very first bushes, we were surprised to note that none of the tubers had not only scab, but even any very tenacious sclerotia. The harvest of grown tubers turned out to be quite good, although the weather that year was not very pleasant.

The famous experienced gardener L. Rendyakov gets excellent results when using pine needles. In his practice, he covers onion plantings with coniferous spruce branches, and after removing the spruce branches after 2-3 weeks, the top layer of soil is well mulched with pine needles, due to which the soil remains loose, nutritious and moisture-free throughout the entire period of growing onions, has no weeds and protects the plantings from diseases and pests . As a result of all this, from 1 kg of sets, the yield of full-fledged onions is up to 40 kg, and this has been happening for about 4 years and regardless of the weather.

The experience of the skilled gardener V. Shchelkov, who uses pine needles with an admixture of sawdust to fumigate potatoes stored in the cellar with smoke, is also known from the press. This treatment of the cellar is carried out for about 0.5 hours, and monthly, until the end of the storage period. At the same time, potatoes not only do not rot, but also retain their properties well.

From all of the above, it is clear that pine needles effectively serve not only as a garden healer, but also as a fertilizer for soil and plants. This is explained by the fact that the needles contain, first of all, a very rich complex of physiologically active substances; it also contains many chemical elements: calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, etc.

Of course, there are also obvious opponents of the use of pine needles on plots, pointing out the harmfulness of removing green pine needles from trees and the possibility of terpenes, esters, etc. getting into the water and soil. Practice does not confirm this, since the doses of removing pine needles from the forest and introducing them into garden and vegetable garden are very small, and scientists have not found any noticeable difference between the properties of green and fallen needles. This means that it is quite possible to make do with fallen pine needles.

Natural farming is becoming increasingly popular these days. In addition to a significant reduction in volume earthworks, the pleasures of obtaining high yields of various garden crops, this method requires the mandatory use of mulch. Can be used as mulch different materials. Mulching with pine needles is used when growing many plants that are not afraid of acidified soil. For these purposes, they do not use green pine needles, but brown ones that have fallen long ago.

Purpose of mulch

Mulch is any type of loose, air- and moisture-permeable, biodegradable material that is placed on the surface of the soil. The use of mulch provides:

keeping the soil moist for a long time;
growth retardation of many types of weeds;
maintaining optimal temperature soil;
creation of humus through gradual rotting;
life support beneficial organisms, inhabiting the upper layer of the earth.

Growing plants on soil covered with a layer of mulch gives incomparable top scores than without it. The thickness of the mulch should be from 5 to 20 cm. The needles are laid out at some distance from the base of the plant. They only need to cover heated soil.

If you rush to lay mulch in the spring, the ground underneath will remain cold for a long time. The effect of such use will be the opposite - a delay in plant development.

If in spring and summer the purpose of mulch is to protect the soil from drying out and the growth of weeds, and to accumulate heat, then in the fall it is to protect the soil organisms living underneath it from freezing.

Many natural materials can be used as mulch:

pine litter;
hay, straw;
husks from seeds, buckwheat;
pine nut shells;
dry last year's leaves;
sawdust and shavings;
wood chips from tree bark;
crushed cones;
humus, humus, peat;
freshly cut grass.

Buy mulch from natural materials not easy, it is rarely on sale even in specialized stores. Such materials are quite expensive and require renewal after a year, as they decompose in the soil.

Currently, in addition to natural shelters, modern nonwoven materials are used:

spunbond;
agril;
lutrasil;
Virotex.

They allow moisture to reach the ground and delay its evaporation. Their use is justified by their ease of acquisition and use. But it will not be possible to create real humus under such cover. Such a cover will not provide nutrition to the plant.

By using completely free pine litter, which can be collected from pine forests in any quantity, gardeners receive not only mulch, but also a natural factory for the production of humus.

When raking needles into bags, you can see white mycelium veins under the pine needles. These myceliums provide the soil with enhanced nutrition and protection. Fertility and wildlife, and in the beds, is created by soil inhabitants who actively process a thick layer of needles.

Soil inhabitants - fungi, bacteria, small fauna that live under litter, help plants digest and assimilate any organic matter. Plant productivity in such conditions is optimal. After all, if there is no organic matter, there is no soil life, and there is no food for plants.

Application of pine mulch

In gardening literature you can read about restrictions on the use of pine needles. It has an acidic reaction and over time, with constant use, acidifies the soil. Not all plants like this. Some people need such land, others suffer and get sick in such conditions.

The way out of this situation is very simple. It is worth remembering which vegetables, bushes and trees love such conditions. Raspberries and blackberries tolerate acidic soil well. Slightly acidic soil is suitable:

for apple trees;
pears;
cherries;
plums;
quinces;
gooseberries;
currants

Medium acid soil is suitable:

for strawberries;
potatoes;
pepper;
pumpkins;
parsnip;
sorrel.

Pine mulch helps the growth of sunflowers, eggplants, onions and garlic.

From ornamental plants loves coniferous mulch: hydrangea, rhododendron, all heathers, roses.

In addition, acidic soil can be neutralized by sprinkling slaked lime on the beds in the fall - 50 grams per 1 square meter. m. It is even better to deoxidize the soil with ash, which is a natural supplier of nitrogen.

Pine needles contain natural phytoncides that counteract fungal and bacterial diseases. The needles also contain a huge amount of vitamins and minerals, which gradually pass into the soil.

Raspberries

Mulch from pine needles allows you to grow luxurious crops using biotechnology, which was studied and described by the outstanding Russian land manager Alexander Kuznetsov. Its principle is that plant nutrition is provided by root microbes and fungal mycorrhiza. Microbes and fungi do not live in the arable layer, only in rotting plant residues.

That is, covering the beds with raspberries with pine litter or any organic mulch, create conditions for a favorable symbiosis between the plant, fungi and microbes. This symbiosis is a living biological product that enhances the breakdown of organic matter and improves plant nutrition.

Raspberry roots secrete substances necessary for the life of mycorrhiza, and mushrooms enrich the soil with nutrients. Pine mulch provides a natural habitat for mycorrhizae.

Its presence makes it possible to increase the planting density from 5 shoots per 1 sq. m. up to 30-40 pieces.

At the same time, the weight of the berry increased from 4-6 g to 10-12 g. Fruiting remontant raspberries instead of August it starts from mid-July.

In beds that are mulched annually, plants either do not get sick at all or the disease is mild. With such agricultural technology, fertilizers, frequent watering are not needed, chemicals for baiting pests.

Strawberry (strawberry)

When using Kuznetsov’s biotechnology, strawberries instead of ordinary berries weighing 40 grams produced berries weighing 65 grams. The harvest increased by 1.5 times. Mulch, among other things, plays the role of an antiseptic; strawberries do not suffer from any diseases.

Unlike straw mulch, pine needles will prevent slugs from getting close to the berries. Mice won't live in it either. The mulch layer should be at least 5-7 cm high.

Lingonberries, blueberries, cranberries

Growing these crops is gradually becoming fashionable. Small plantations are planted in fenced beds covered with peat. For good development of plants, they are watered with acid-containing solutions. Covering such plantings with coniferous mulch is a mandatory procedure.

Onion and garlic

It is recommended to cover the beds with these plants with pine litter. Needles will not only retain moisture and prevent weeds from sprouting, but their phytoncidal properties will save plants from fungal and bacterial diseases. From mid-May, the beds are covered with a dense layer of pine mulch. At the same time, work on watering and loosening the beds is reduced.

It is very good to cover the roots with pine mulch for the winter. berry bushes, fruit trees, grapes and strawberries. Protecting from icy winds and low temperatures, it prevents the roots from suffocating from lack of oxygen. Many other protective structures become winter quarters for rodents. The needles will not allow them to settle in shelters built for grapes and roses.

Pine and spruce needles are known to most readers mainly for their medicinal properties, which are well studied and widely used in medical practice. According to well-known herbalists in the country, up to 2/3 of all diseases, including cancer, can be cured with the help of pine needles. However, pine needles, as experience shows, are capable of more, including serving humans in their fight against pests and diseases, in increasing soil fertility and plant nutrition to enhance their growth and development.

The most effective results of using pine and spruce needles are known in the fight against pests and diseases of fruit and berry crops: codling moth, moth on currants and gooseberries, weevil on raspberries, etc. In all these cases, it is enough to take 1-1.5 kg of needles and leave it in 10 liters of hot water, cool, strain and use a sprayer to treat trees and bushes, preferably first the trunks, then the branches and then the green crown. This treatment of trees and shrubs is advisable at the beginning of their flowering and 2-3 more times with breaks for a week.

The experience of using pine needles against aphids and copperheads is also very effective, and take 2 kg of pine needles per 10 liters of water and leave for a week, keeping the infusion for about 7 days in a dark place and stirring daily. Before use, the infusion is diluted to a ratio in water of 1:3 or 1:5. Both pine and spruce needles give good results in the fight against cruciferous flea beetle on salads, cauliflower and a number of root crops (radish, turnip, radish, rutabaga, etc.). Moreover, the plants are either sprayed with a solution of infusion in water in a ratio of 1:5, or a mixture of pine needles and water in a ratio of 1:1 is added into the rows of plants. There has also been positive experience in using pine needles in the fight against the Colorado potato beetle.

It should be noted that spraying fruit, berry and vegetable crops with a solution of pine needles can be carried out both in the morning and in the evening, only avoiding periods of dew and rain. To prevent the solution from being lost, you can add 30 g of laundry soap to it. According to my observations, some gardeners add ash extract to the pine needle solution, which, in combination with soap, eliminates the possibility of soil acidification that occurs when using pine needles. The addition of chopped pine branches and cones by some gardeners to the infused mixture of pine needles and water, according to available information, only weakens the insecticidal properties of the solutions.

In recent years, I have also gained some experience in using pine and spruce needles when growing tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes. In the first case, we added ash to a mixture of pine and spruce needles, boiled the mixture in water, filtered it, and then treated 10 tomato bushes twice with a solution having a 1:5 ratio. By doing this, we were able to encourage them to grow more intensively and eliminate developmental delays. What is important is that the treated bushes bloomed earlier and more friendly than all the others and did not suffer from any disease, and the harvest on them was greater than on the untreated bushes.

But, perhaps, what pleased me the most were strawberries and potatoes, when planting them in the first case a mixture of pine needles with sand, ash and compost in equal proportions was used, and in the second case a mixture of pine needles, bark, ash and compost in the same proportion, and In a strawberry bed, the mixture was embedded in the soil of the top layer, and when planting potatoes, it was applied under the tubers and on them in a volume of about 1 liter per bush. As it turned out, the strawberry bushes, being in such soil and having enough nutrition and moisture, had no pests or diseases, bloomed faster than others and produced a harvest almost 1.5 times greater than before. Moreover, the berries were distinguished not only by their large size, but also had a particularly pleasant taste.

Experienced gardener L. Rendyakov gets excellent results when using pine needles. In his practice, he covers onion plantings with coniferous spruce branches, and after removing the spruce branches after 2-3 weeks, the top layer of soil is well mulched with pine needles, due to which the soil remains loose, nutritious and moisture-free throughout the entire period of growing onions, has no weeds and protects the plantings from diseases and pests . As a result of all this, from 1 kg of sets, the yield of full-fledged onions is up to 40 kg, and this has been happening for about 4 years and regardless of the weather.

Anatoly Veselov, gardener