We get so many pinecones in our yard that I joke that I could retire if they were a penny a piece. I'd love to find a (non-crafty!) use for them other than piling them in a corner waiting for them to decompose. I've wondered if the broken outer parts could be used as a mulch? Seems like a great idea except that as it's not done there must be a reason why. Anyone know? If pine straw and pine bark is used why not the pinecones?
An idea for pinecones?
If you like to feed birds... My DW has made cool bird feeders with them before. Take the biggest ones you can find and tie a string to it so you can hang it from a tree. Slather it with Peanut butter. Roll it through a shallow pan of bird seed until it's coated. Hang it from a tree. Birds love it because they get extra fat, sugar and protein from the peanut butter while eating the seeds.
Jeff
I know a friend of mine used the huge ones to out line a flower bed with them. They would close up at night and the next morning the petals would open back up and be a wide open pine cone again...strange but true. I don't know if it had anything to do with the watering of the flower bed or what but it was pretty neat to see them all closed up tight then re open the next morning.
You could always offer them to the primary/grade schools in your area, around Christmas they could make gifts from them as in the post above or glitter them up to use as ornaments for their Christmas trees.
you could always save onion bags and bag them up for starting fires, might even sell them if you get enuff?
i placed some from my yard in the bottom of a potted container in order to make it lighter and use less potting soil...saw the idea in a gardegate magazine...
we tried burning some in our chiminea once, but they just seemed to make more flying sparks of ash, and i was paranoid about it causing a fire the whole time...we couldn't enjoy the relaxing, fall fire...
Thank you - that's a good idea to use pinecones at the bottom of a large container - I did need to find something to use for some we large pots. The other ideas are good but fall into the "crafty" category - and wouldn't make a dent in the amount we have.
Still wondering if there is a reason why the outer "petals" shouldn't be used as a mulch if broken away from the inside part. Anyone know?
I thought about making some fire starters from our cones, but never found the time. I did make some pinecone carolers at Christmas.
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11073
http://pineconelady.com/crafts.html
Pine cones are hard to break up. Martha Stewart covered frames with the outer "leaves" and used what looked like tin snips to do it. Not worth it to me. I use them to prevent erosion in one area, covered with mulch. The grandkids have pine cone throwing contests occasionally. Gets them out of my yard and into the woods! (The cones, not the kids. Smile.) Oh, yeah, mine open and close while on the ground during part of the year, too. Go figure. Sheila
the cones open up from heat.if you ever find that you need one open and they are all closed, you can put them in a warm,not hot, oven and they will open up.kinda a neat thing to show your kids.
Thanks, Green. Love that kind of info. Sheila
you are welcome soupcon. i have never heard of using them for keeping out squirrels. what a cool idea. i will have to try that.
I'd like to crush up pinecones to add to to soil as an admendment to my clay soil when planting. Figuring out how to crush them up is my problem. It would be cheaper than buying bags of pink bark mini nuggets.
Cordeledawg, this is what I was asking if it was a good idea to crush the pinecones - and you indicate that it is. I have found that when the cones are older the outer petals detach themselves very easily from the main core.
I bought a bag of mini nugget pine bark to add to my holes when I was planting hostas. They looked exactly like crushed up pine cones. You're right, when the cones are older they do break apart easier. I think I'll start piling some up then hit'em with the back of a shovel.
I bought a bag of mini nugget pine bark to add to my holes when I was planting hostas. They looked exactly like crushed up pine cones. You're right, when the cones are older they do break apart easier. I think I'll start piling some up then hit'em with the back of a shovel.
A planting handout I got with the hostas says something about adding medium size pine nuggets. It would allow the roots to breathe and would take longer to break down.
hey you will get a two for one. the pinecones will help your plants and the beating them with the shovel will help with anger management! lol
This message was edited May 16, 2007 6:26 PM
Maybe I could burn some calories too!
put them in a bag and run over with your car - LOL. that will crush them good and hopefully won't hurt your tires.
I wish pine cones would keep deer away - squirrels are not much of a problem for me (yet) but I have a family of 5 deer in the neighborhood eyeing my hydrangeas.
Liz - I tried a pinecone "bed" around plantings, and it may have helped a little--I hear deer feet (pads, that is) are tender. But the pinecones decompose quickly, and then....yeah, well. Last year we noticed that the deer did not eat the hydrangea that had ferns growing in front of them. The few places eaten were where the deer could get to the hydrangea without having to stand in the ferns. I'm sure this won't be foolproof, cuz the little darlins will eat anything if they get hungry enough, but we planted more ferns around the hydrangeas this year. It's worth a shot. In fact, I'm going out there to transplant a few more ferns right now! Sheila