Composting Christmas Trees?

I had an idea to chop up our old Christmas tree for mulch and/or compost, but I read that Pine needles make the soil acidic. Is this true when you compost the Pine needles? If so, should something else be added to the compost to even out the pH, or is it best to just avoid composting an old Christmas tree and put it out with the curbside yard waste?

Also, I was thinking of using the side branches as mulch to (1) help keep the plants/soil a little warmer and (2) keep the cats from poo-ing in the veggie beds. Do I run into the same problem of acidifying the soil.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions :)
Joey

Wood chips, pine or otherwise, do acidify the soil and deplete the nitrogen in the soil. (I killed a rose garden once by using a very heavy layer of chips as mulch). It would be better to compost the chips since finished compost is neutral in PH.

That said, I have used chipped up pine in woodland beds where the plants like and even need an acidic soil and everything thrived.

There are many plants that thrive in acidic soil. Azaleas, hydrangeas, camellias, blueberries and pretty much everything else in my yard (we live in the middle of a pine forest :) If you were going to have a large amount of christmas trees maybe you could make a bed specifically for them? I grow many tropicals, bulbs, and veggies too and they don't complain about my acidic soil either.

Otherwise folks here throw them into their ponds for the fish to nest in.

Other uses for your spent Christmas trees:

I visited an artists garden last summer & she used christmas tree's "past" as garden art, she kept them upright in her garden and hung various items and chewed on dog bones from their dog on the bare branches.

Here's another Christmas tree past object art tree

That's very cute!

Joey, assuming that a) pine needles aren't the only thing in your compost and b) you really are composting them - I mean, letting them break down completely - you will probably end up with a pretty close to neutral pH.

As for acidity levels, if you are in the desert and growing only cacti and succulents, that might be a bad thing, but much of what is grown has a range of tolerance - and unless your plant really needs a high pH (alkaline) it's probably pretty safe to use your tree as a mulch, especially if it's in a mix of other things that will even it out.

Be aware, too, that if you aren't able to use a chipper or shredder or something to get the wood into pretty small pieces, it's going to take a while to break down to something usable.

How about Chain Saw dust, from Christmas trees? I worked on a tree lot this year and swept up many a barrel full of needles and saw dust. With composting/mulching in mind I saved three kitchen trash bags full. One thought was to compost. The other to spread it in the beds and cover with bark to keep it from blowing away. They are still sitting next to the compost barrel. Please, someone make this decision easier for me. thanks
David

It will compost, slowly, but it will compost. Sawdust in the beds is said to deplete the soil of nitrogen. So you sould compost it first to nutralize it's PH.

Sawdust is pretty fine and should actually break down rather quickly, as long as it's mixed with a lot of other stuff, namely greens with a pretty good moisture - fresh grass clippings would be optimal, if you don't have access to a large amount of green stuff at one time, I suggest you go the alfalfa pellet route (feed store, $10, 50lbs of joy).

With wood chips mixed in, it will be considerably slower; if there's chunks I'd pick or screen them out and throw those on top as a mulch, but not in your compost pile.

Edited to add: Wood can be a problem in that it actually uses nitrogen in the process by which it breaks down, so if you add it to your soil it will rob the nitrogen from your soil. I would say that different wood has different pH and not to worry too much about it if you're adding to other items and composting it

This message was edited Jan 14, 2008 8:27 PM

Nitrogen robbing is only an issue if wood is tilled into the soil. The N needed for composting it must be obtained from the soil.

On top of the soil, used as mulch, it is not a problem. N can be obtained from the air above, since earth's atmosphere is comprised of approximately 78 - 79% nitrogen.

Using wood mulch on top of your beds will not affect the soil's pH, at least not appreciably. I have used wood mulch for 25 years and my alkaline soil is still alkaline.

Just use your wood as a mulch. Keep it simple and don't till, and wood mulch is wonderful stuff.

Karen

This message was edited Jan 15, 2008 8:28 AM

Thanks for all the info. I wish every season was Christmas season. I only saved three bags of the stuff.
David

Have you decided what to do? I think you might have been advised to do all of the things you had already considered, lol!

Do you know if your soil tends toward alkaline or acidic? I compost pine needles, but I've also used them as a mulch for one of my beds. I put them under the camellias and hydrangeas. Since Florida is basically a big chunk of limestone, my hydrangeas are always pink (even though I buy the hybrid that says it stays blue even in alkaline soil), but this year I got them to purple. Maybe this year I'll get blue!

Depending on your soil and which plants you have it might be fine to just lay them down as a mulch. The pine needles I use come from the trees that drop their needles all over the west side of my yard (of course the hydrangea bed is on the east side). I've planted lots of varieties of plants on that side and even when I'm lazy and don't rake for months I can't see that the pine needles effect anything.

Melanie

I didn't read most of this thread, but I'm going to post this anyway.

Sorry if I am repeating anything that was already said.

I saw that the POSSIBLE pH changes and Nitrogen deficiencies were covered, but if you are worried about your plants you should Google "Pine Bark and Soil Toxicity".

Anything like that will get you to where you need to be.
There are a lot of phenolic acids in many resinous woods, but you can run into problems with all kinds of woods.

Ten to one you will find the most comprehensive information coming out of Australia.

It's also a good idea to do a soil test and ph test if you're concerned about the ph of you soil. I would think it would take piles and piles and years and years before the pine needles would change your ph. It takes 6 months for lime to change the ph about 1/2 a point.

I am planning to mulch with the saw dust, then cover with another type to keep everything in place. Our landfill will give us as much mulch as we can carry. I think about my dads pine tree and the advice he received from the garden center, which was to not plant anything under his tree. Because of the acidity from the pine needles, nothing would thrive. Now he does have some established shrubs that do fine. But as far as annuals, he has been unsuccessful. This I have translated into weed suppression, which by the way, he has been extremely successful in doing. Now the acidity of the mulch may not be the largest factor attributing to the weed suppression, but for me it does out way the length of time it will take to have a beneficial impact on my compost. Thanks for your interest and assistance.
David

welllll, I think the root competition is a big factor in his not getting anything new to grow under a pine tree. 2 cents says the established shrubs were in place before the pine got that big.

I agree with Sally, the annuals are not heavy feeders, but the competition from the tree and shrubs may be too much for them. Maybe if he keeps adding additional compost and tries a some type of lasanga beds in the area he wants to plant the annuals. He may be more successful.

I would go with bulbs, or something that goes dormant early. I was reading about how that is a strategy for survival in tough places. Or, container , like a whiskey barrel half.

The house was built in the mid 60's. Our family moved in in 1977 and as early as I can remember we had a Lantana about 5' north of the tree. About 5 years ago that was traded for a euryops, which is doing just fine. Without being there I can't remember what else is growing nearby. The area in question is within that 5' radius, I'll suggest the whiskey barrel idea.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information!!! I really have learned a lot and appreciate your comments.

I've decided to chop the leaves and the thinner branches and place them in our long term compost. I'll put the larger branches in the yard waste recycling and use the trunk as a trellis for something to climb on.

Here is a photo of our Christmas tree before:

2 hours of cutting with hand pruners and 3 blisters later... here's the tree after:

This is what we ended up with... a bin full of leaves and thin branches (for the compost bin) and a pile of thicker branches (for yard waste recycling).