Mulch vs Pine Straw for Flower Beds (My Thoughts) 

On the West Coast I always burned off pine straw during the first fall rain. I've seen many a snake in pine straw around Florida, they make their own roads through the straw and camouflage very well. I love ground wood chips as my true passion is Back To Eden Permaculture Gardening, when I'm not working spraying lawns- which incidentally I buried mine under 3 feet of chips and grow food.

💚💚💚 Pine straw is king in my area. 50+ bales is what we do to profit from it, but I personally prefer pine bark at home, great comparison, Jason 💚💚💚

Another benefit of pinestraw so I've heard is it has a natural acidity that stops weeds from germinating. And I rarely see weeds in pinestraw beds so I guess there's truth to it

Right on time video. I was literally just thinking about this and which one I wanted to add to the landscape

That was an awesome explanation thanks!!!

Very thorough....thanks !

I’m just starting in lawn care and a lot of your videos helped me! Appreciate it !

I like to start my floer beds off by mixing both in my flower beds along with some leaves & a top mix of garden soil, which seems to help hold in more moisture as well as a weed control but also helps create a natural compost for my perennials to seed & spread without my help. Great for creeping plants like sedum or phlox.I just throw out a thin layer of everything no certain order just as to mix everything together & repeat until desired thickness making sure thin layer of garden soil is last but not like a layer but just so it's there in spots as so it's mixed in this is just so when my flowers such as my sedum, phlox, blackeyed susan's want to selfseed or spread they have soil to grow in keeping my beds full & weed free & low maintenance

Good presentation thanks

Great video Jason I prefer mulch

Love this

I've done many inspection/repairs of home siding damage due to water splash at roof line on surfaces such as sand, wood, rock or anything that causes water to splash. Pine straw is the only material I would recommend next to any exterior wall finish subject to water damage. Well maintained pine straw will diffuse rain water splashing and prevent water damage and is a good selling point to renew pine straw beds more often. Wood products have a tendency to float on various slopes and conditions and preventive measures should be taken. My preference has always been pine straw.

Pine straw has definitely got the edge for me on keeping down the weeds. Also for me, pine straw is easier to put out. I don't know about other suppliers, but the one I get mine from is a locally owned landscape supply business. The pine straw comes in bales that are a lot easier to pick up and then each bale has smaller square shaped sections that you can: 1) just place where you want it or 2) pull apart and spread where you want it. I'm sold on pine straw! The only drawback for me is pine straw is less friendly when it comes to pulling back to dig up an existing plant or planting a new plant. But even that is manageable.

I’m a homeowner and have used mulch since I moved to TN in ‘98. The last few times I’ve used red mulch but the lawn guys that I’ve hired have all bitched about it. I talked to a neighbor who suggested pine straw. I’m gonna buy some at Lowe’s, spread it myself (it’s only two maple trees & the front garden beds) and be done with it. I’ll bet it turns out great and I’ll have y’all to thank in part for it.

Lowe's sells the Alabama made Evergreen brand "Soil Conditioner" which is ground up pine bark; finer grind than pine chips. Highly recommend it. Only $3.50 for 2 Cubic Foot bag. Recommend long leaf pine needles put down in early February for naturalized daffodil beds.

Good video brother

In my business, it's generally what the customers want. Here in NC, we have a lot of willow oak tress which, in my opinion, are the work of Satan. Every fall they dump thin long leaves on everything and with regards to pine needles, once they fall on them, they're there to stay. This makes the pine needles look terrible. Mulch on the other hand, is much easier to rid of leaves with light blower use. If you're going with mulch, make sure to advise the homeowners to step up their termite inspections and or treatments. There is all kinds of mulch but pine bark mulch is like crack for termites.

Some pine straw will have weed seeds in it. I have seen new weeds come up weeks or months after spreading it. I usually put down a pre-emergent now after spreading it, like Snapshot.

Pine straw works best for me. Much easier on my back. Do mulch in bags for some small areas in back of my house. Listening from NC enjoyed your video.

Mulch is king in my neck of the woods.I’m from South Carolina so I personally prefer pine straw But I live and work in NC. On my route i usually only see about two houses that I actually have pine straw down.I do recommend it to client sometimes but honestly I’ve personally never laid it for anybody just mulch so much damn mulch it’s not even funny. Love the work Jason always help and a shout out to Blades of Grass. 🇺🇸 BlueBucket LawnCare Asheville North Carolina.

I weed and amend the plot with organic compost, then add on a thick layer of leaves and then pile on another thick layer of pine needles on top.

Hey Jason, we do a lot of combination brown mulch and pine straw. We use the mulch on the annual beds, shape it with a raised crisp edge, and then do pine straw around foundation plantings behind the annuals. Really makes the annual beds pop. Doesn't look good with black mulch, though. I saw a black cherry mulch at my supplier the other day, which I'm eager to try with pine straw in my yard. If it looks as good as I think it will, I'll take a picture and sell the fire out of it. I enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work.

Jason. Im in the panhandle of FL or what I called LA (Lower Alabama). 90 percent of the homes have Pinestraw. I get the lr round bales long leaf for $8.75 and sell them installed for $20 and that's the av price for good straw in the area. Year long Mulch in the bag is the easiest to put out and super clean.

Ok thanks.

Thx

I use pine straw in larger areas and mulch in smaller areas(mail box for example).

Hey Jason I'm in Alabama also and I prefer mulch over pine straw. Maybe because I'm originally from the north I don't know. But I feel mulch looks nicer for a longer period of time. But pine straw is a cheaper option for my customers if they don't want to spend the money on mulch. Love the videos

I usually contract my large straw installations to my straw vendor. I make a small profit from it while it frees me up to go make other money. To me there just isn't money in straw for time invested. I prefer pine bark minis. Spreads good, looks natural, doesn't cling over the shrubs for more clean up. With mulch, the look you get when you're finished is it. You don't have to wait a week for it to settle and blow the edges again like straw. Straw stays in place better though. Heavy rain can wash out some mulch. Both have pros and cons. Guess it all comes down to personal and customer preference. Good video. 👍

Get the good color in the spring and you can always flip it over in the fall. Looks so good after you tuck it with a leaf blower along the edges. Mulch washes out way too easy as well.

I love using pine straw but I am in PA and it is way too expensive here. $15 for 3 cubic ft. is the cheapest I have found.

I use pine plenty and free

WAIT!!! So, DOES pinestraw/pine-needles WORK BETTER THAN using MULCHES/leaves/other materials, AS A SOURCE OF WARMTH, like a comfy blanket keeping my baby lemon { 2years 3rd week of November tree warm growing stronger, without any extra protection, covering, just lemon tree in pot, by the porch? Pine or mulch needs to go onto the topsoil & assuming needs to be about 3inches up her trunk, or higher or just flush on the topsoil? Here@ in NC, its super hella cold, lots of ice, freezing mists as it mists ú falls, instant freezing of any spills, BUT NO SNOW, USUALLY, EXCEPT FOR THIS UPCOMING SEASON, DUE TO MY "FANTASTICALLY MAGICKAL 'JINX,'" so this year, blizzardssnow tornadoes, & avalanches in our town, from the mountains that surfaced overnight just to snow our town I'm. I had no idea that all of the bordering pine-straw,ine-needles, crushed leaves, etc. placed around trees & bordering flower beds for WEED CONTROL.. I thought various mulches & 'straws were all used for cold & bonus!/extta!! decoration/pretty/beautify, & for bedding/warmth/protection from frosts or any drop of cold for plants unable to make it through fall/winter. I clicked to find out if Pine, Balsam, Mulches ect. Materials I Haven thought of yet would make the best winter blanket since they're Walmart lemons, & I took ALL of the seeds from the lemon planted in s styrofoam cup & now its a foot-ish tall, BUT she's been an inside lemon tree, going back inside the second it fell to 69°f, & she's gonna have HER VERY FIRST fall/season/outside, NOT being brought inside, AT ALL! NOT FOR ANY reason. {Long story bout WHY but.. You can blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-lcohol, blam it in the henny, & C-19 patient quarantined & now stuck, so now my baby is gonna be out in the cold FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER!!!! I WORKED SO HEARD TO. GROW HER ,BUT CANT FIND ANYTHING other then its impossible to grow any fruits from store bought fruit seeds... BUT I DID plant & grow 4 healthy toddler height'ed lemon tress… FROM THE IMPOSSIBLE GROCERY STORE FRUIT! LEMON SEEDS, rinsed from inside the lemon, dried then planted in a small container! & NOW i can't find how to KEEP HER Safe FROM The Cold, HOW TO KEEP HER FROM DYING, FREEZING TO DEATH in the cold. She's almost 3 years old, about 3 feet tall, in a container of just soil/dirt. No fertilizer or anything placed in tip of the soil, just a simple tree, in a bucket, in some dirt!!!! Please help me keep her from freezing to death!!

I was big on mulch...but I switched to pine for cleaner edges.

Can you dye pine straw like you can mulch?

As homeowner we’re going with pine straw. Smithfield,NC

My flower beds in back are directly under several pine trees so I use pine straw on them. However the beds in front have mulch to please my wife.

Thinking about switching from mulch to pine straw or rock. You love da rock?

How well does pine straw retain moisture in the soil for the plants compared to mulch which does a pretty Good job?

Pine straw

When weeds get through pine straw, its a horrible mess to weed.. the weeds get all tangled up in the straw.. i really really prefer woodchips

I get mulch at 24 a yard. Even a little cheaper when I buy for my big jobs. I charge 100 a yard. When I lived in Georgia back in the day I used to get killer pine straw for 2 a bale. It’s way more expensive in Pennsylvania. Nobody uses it up here. I used it for one job out of 10 years from people that where from Georgia that moved up here.

May I ask a rookie question? We just moved to the south. When we bought the home, all of the very large wooded areas were covered in pine straw and looked wonderful. After the first fall, everything was covered in leaves (a couple of inches thick). Do we have to rake and remove all of the layers of leaves and pine straw, and install fresh pine straw [and repeat that process every year]? Or, do we just add another layer of fresh pine straw? If the latter, it seems that we would soon have a very deep pile of alternating leaves and pine straw.... HELP PLEASE!

I clicked on this video to see which, pine-straw or mulch, makes the better blanket/top layer, to keep my almost 3yo, almost 3ft tall, lemon tree grown from seeds from s store bought lemon. She's never been outside I'm anything under 70°f/69°f, & circumstances have her now condemned to outside, so I NEED HELP TO KEEP HER FROM DYING OR COLD & FREEZING TO DEATH! Which is best, pine-straw or mulch, or something else? There isn't any greenhouse, covering or anything. Just s lemon tree in s bucket with normal dirt/soil, no fertilizer or snytji g on the top layer, just simple dirt & baby tree. I had no ides that this mulch be pine video was about weeds, since so many flowers & plants actually grow best in either clay type dirt, or bad dry dirt, or mulch specifically, so I had no idea specific soil for flowers to flourish in could also keep other types of wildflowers/weeds away!!!

for a couple over 65, the bags of mulch are too heavy. pine needles are the answer.

I charge $1,300 a bail for pine straw.

Pine needles look like sht imo, definitely less classier than colored mulch, black is the way to go I think