Lucky for those summer residents whose plots are located near a pine forest. After all, the needles in the garden can be found the most wide application: it is both excellent mulch and highly efficient organic fertilizer, and a pest control agent. And with the help of 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 flavor. Use it as follows:

• in early spring, as soon as the soil dries up, remove from strawberry plants old dead leaves, loosen the aisles and apply fertilizers (you can read about caring for strawberries in spring);
• cover the entire strawberry plot with needles with a layer of 4 to 5 centimeters;
• at the end of fruiting, remove the coniferous litter (this must be done, since during decomposition 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;
• Arrange dry needles in garbage or sugar bags.

With careful handling, pine needles will last up to 4 years without adding a fresh portion. Thanks to this mulch, weeds will almost stop growing on the strawberry garden, and you will practically not have to water and loosen the soil during the summer. And the needles will also close access to the garden for snails and other creeping pests.

Coniferous needles can also mulch the soil in the trunks. garden trees to prevent root freezing in severe winters, as well as for purely aesthetic purposes. Mulch is poured in a layer of 5 to 7 centimeters within a radius of 1 meter around the trunks of young trees and within a radius of 1.5 to 2 meters for adults.

Especially good apply pine and spruce needles as mulch for horticultural crops if on your site carbonate or neutral soil.

It is also good to cover the paths between vegetable beds with coniferous litter, and dried or semi-decomposed needles can be used to warm winter crops and even sprinkle between rows.

Much more interesting tips on the use of 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 the direct addition of fresh needles to the soil has a depressing effect on plants, it must first be prepared using composting.

They do it like this:

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

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

Needles in the garden to fight diseases and pests

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

To prepare the drug, dry thin branches of needles and spruce for 1-2 weeks, pass them through a meat grinder or blender and use this way:

• for prevention, powdery mildew and gray mold dust every 1.5-2 weeks vegetable plants pine needles powder (from 5 to 20 grams / square meter beds);
• to ward off the onion fly from the onion bed, sprinkle the soil around the plants with coniferous flour twice - in mid-May and early summer;
• so that the cabbage does not bother the cabbage fly, mulch the soil around the planted seedlings of this culture with a thin layer of coniferous powder and repeat the procedure after 2 weeks;
• carrots will not suffer from, if every two weeks, starting from the first ten days of June, dusting the planting of root crops with chopped needles;
• cabbage white and melon aphids also cannot stand the coniferous smell - cabbage beds are treated for these pests twice, in early 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 young tree trunks from rodent teeth in winter. However, for this purpose, old nylon tights are still better suited, since the needles from spruce branches tend to crumble quickly, which negates its protective function.

I'm sure this list of options for using pine needles in the garden is far from complete. How do you use this free organic on your site?

I also advise you to watch a short video about the benefits of pine needles for the garden.

Coniferous litter is needles and twigs falling to the ground conifers trees, and many summer residents are not very eager to use it, although the use of such organics in the garden and in the garden is quite extensive. Let's take a quick look at the methods of using pine needles on summer cottage.

Coniferous litter: application in the garden and vegetable garden

The desire to make your life safer naturally gave rise to the desire to use natural ingredients, especially when it comes to growing food. Rightly believing that they are the safest, a person increasingly turns his gaze to living nature, resorts to folk methods garden processing. One of these natural substances is pine needles. It can be collected in a spruce, but preferably in a pine forest. So far, no license is required for this.

Coniferous litter as mulch

In our latitudes, pine or spruce forests are predominantly distributed from coniferous forests. Any needles greatly increases the acidity (lowers PH) of the soil. This is especially noticeable with the example of fresh spruce branches. Therefore, it is better to use pine or larch needles for mulching. Nevertheless, a little chalk or ash is still recommended for it to maintain the acid balance, and with regular use of such mulch, it is useful to annually monitor the condition of the soil substrate with a PH meter, adjusting the acidity if necessary.

The cover of needles protects the soil layer from drying out, and phytoncides in their composition - from fungal diseases, as well as all kinds of pests. Such mulching is useful for any cultivated plants, but especially bulbous ones, which are often prone to root infections. In addition, weeds practically do not break through the coniferous pillow, which makes it easier to weed the beds.

Coniferous mulch gives a good effect when growing strawberries, strawberries, and other perennials. In this case, the berries do not touch the ground, which prevents them from rotting or being damaged by slugs. Needle cultivation near-trunk circles fruit trees and shrubs - a good prevention of root diseases.

But it should not be forgotten that not all plants are suitable for a substrate with a low PH. The acidic soil has a beneficial effect on blueberries, cherries, cherries, plums, onions, garlic, eggplants, and sunflowers grow well on it. However, most cultivated flowers do not tolerate excess acidity, so when using needles, do not forget to correct the acid composition. Only a few flowers are adapted to acidic substrates. For example: buttercups, violets, lupines, lilies of the valley, lilies, marsh viola. From ornamental shrubs- hydrangea, viburnum, azalea, heather, rhododendron.

Needles as fertilizer

Needles, like any plant material, are easily fermented (composted). From the resulting humus, a completely normal organic fertilizer is formed, which is used to improve the soil substrate for any garden crops.

Good results are obtained if you use a vitamin infusion. It is good as a natural fertilizer, having a beneficial effect on house flowers, seedlings, greenhouse, and garden plants, especially in the early stages of their development. The infusion of needles, in addition to a set of vitamins and trace elements necessary for the development of seedlings, contains a sufficient amount of phytoncides, which work as an excellent bactericidal and disinfectant. It practically relieves problems with root fungal diseases.

For the preparation of the drug, any closable container will do. The raw material is chopped branches of pine or spruce with green needles. They fill the container by about a third, (a proportion of 1–1.5 kg of needles per bucket) and then pour it with boiling water, then, covering it with a blanket, leave to infuse for 5–7 days. Using the resulting liquid as a fertilizer, it must be diluted with three parts of water.

Needles as an insecticide

The resulting infusion in undiluted form works as an insecticide when spraying the affected vegetation from a spray bottle. Unlike other insecticides, the drug is environmentally friendly, does not cause burns to the foliage, works well against the apple moth, as well as firewood, which quite often infect, in addition to apple trees, gooseberries and currants.

Treatment with infusion against aphids, fleas and others helps small insects... There is information about its successful use in the fight against the raspberry-strawberry weevil, and in some areas even the Colorado potato beetle.

Of particular interest is the use of needles for growing potatoes. Its phytoncides are a good remedy against fungal diseases of potatoes. In addition, they scare away the bear and wireworm, which are often the trouble of potato growers. middle lane... The technique is quite simple - only the potato planting algorithm is slightly modified. First, you need to throw a handful of fresh or last year's needles into the finished hole, then half a glass of wood ash, then a seed potato, and then bury it as usual.

This planting makes it possible to compensate for the decrease in soil PH, increases the air permeability of the soil while improving its drainage capacity, in addition, it practically eliminates the likelihood of damage to tubers by fungal diseases and various harmful insects. Potatoes grown by this method are usually stored until spring without any signs of wireworm development in the tubers. Approximately, for processing 10 acres of a potato field, only 2-3 bags of dry or still green needles are required.

Covering material

Another application is related to the need to protect plants during the cold season. Pine branches have been used for such purposes for a long time. In addition to frost protection, they also protect garden crops from various rodents.

The beds sprinkled with needles for the winter perfectly withstand the winter bad weather, and in the spring the air freely penetrates the mulch layer, allowing the plants to fully develop. Coniferous shelter is good for strawberries, wild strawberries, grapes, fruit roots berry bushes and trees.

But not only in winter is such a covering material useful. Early harvest always a joy, and coniferous mulch will not only protect radishes, lettuce, onions or garlic from spring frosts, but will also ease the worries of weeding and watering, while increasing the yield of the site.

Aesthetic side

And finally, miniature evergreen trees, for example, thuja or juniper, planted on the site, have always been an adornment of any garden at all seasons.

And the spruce trees located on the leeward side, thanks to the evergreen crown, protect fruit trees from winter gusts of wind, trapping snow, thereby creating garden crops favorable conditions wintering and providing them with additional moisture for the spring and summer period. These beneficial features are actively used in the construction of a forest garden on the site, so that small conifers in the country are very welcome.

Additionally, watch a video from Ivan Russkikh on the use of awl in the garden and vegetable garden:

Recently, many sources outright banned the use of needles in the country because of the risk of increasing soil acidity. Although, as our practice shows, it is quite easy to deacidify it. So collect and bring coniferous litter to the dacha - its use in the garden and vegetable garden, as you have seen, is very useful.

The needles of pine and spruce 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, with the help of needles, today up to 2/3 of all diseases, including oncological ones, can be cured. However, as experience shows, needles are capable of more, including can serve a person in his 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: apple moth, moth on currants and gooseberries, weevils on raspberries, etc. In all these cases, it is enough to take 1-1.5 kg of needles, insist it in 10 liters hot water, cool, strain and use a sprayer to process trees and bushes, and it is best to first the trunks, then the branches and then the green crown. Such processing 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 needles against aphids and suckers is also very effective, and they take 2 kg of needles per 10 liters of water and insist 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 of 1: 3 or 1: 5 in water. Both pine and spruce needles give good results in the fight against cruciferous flea on salads, cauliflower and a number of root crops (radishes, turnips, radishes, rutabagas, etc.). Moreover, the plants are either sprayed with a solution of infusion in water in a ratio of 1: 5, or a mixture of needles with water in a ratio of 1: 1 is introduced into the aisles of the plants. There is also a positive experience of using pine needles in the fight against the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes.

It should be noted that spraying with a solution of needles of fruit and berry and vegetable crops can be carried out both in the morning and in the evening, avoiding only periods of dew and rain. In order not to lose the solution, you can add 30 g to it laundry soap... According to my observations, some gardeners add ash extract to the solution of needles, which, in combination with soap, eliminates the likelihood of acidification of the soil that occurs when using needles. The addition of chopped coniferous branches and cones to the infused mixture of needles with water by individual gardeners, according to available information, only weakens the insecticidal properties of the solutions.

Certain experience of using pine and spruce needles in last years I also got it when growing tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes. In the first case, in a mixture of pine and spruce needles we added ash, boiled the mixture in water, filtered, and then treated 10 tomato bushes with a solution having a ratio of 1: 5. In doing so, we managed to induce them to grow more intensively and eliminate the developmental lag. What is important, the treated bushes bloomed earlier and more amicably than everyone else and did not hurt anything, and the harvest was greater for them than on untreated bushes.

But, perhaps, most of all we were pleased with strawberries and potatoes, when planting which, in the first case, a mixture of needles with sand, ash and compost was used in an equal ratio, and in the second - a mixture of needles, bark, ash and compost in the same ratio, and on In a strawberry bed, the mixture was embedded in the soil of the upper 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, strawberry bushes, being in such soil and having enough nutrition and moisture, did not have pests and diseases, they bloomed faster than others and yielded almost 1.5 times more than before. Moreover, the berries differed not only in their large size, but also had some particularly pleasant taste.

However, most of all I was surprised by the potatoes, the planting tubers of which were affected by scab. When digging up the first of its bushes, we were surprised to note that not only was there a scab on any of the tubers, but even any of its very tenacious sclerotia. The harvest of the grown tubers was also quite good, although the weather that year was not very pleasing.

Excellent results when using needles are obtained by the experienced gardener L. Rendyakov. In his practice, he covers the planting of onions with coniferous spruce branches, and after removal of spruce branches after 2-3 weeks, the top layer of soil is well mulched with needles, due to which the entire period of onion growing the soil retains looseness, nutritional value and moisture, does not have weeds and protects plantings from diseases and pests ... As a result of all this, from 1 kg of seedlings, the yield of full-fledged onions is up to 40 kg, and for about 4 years and regardless of the weather.

Known from the press and the experience of a skilled gardener V. Shchelkov, using needles with an admixture of sawdust for fumigating the potatoes stored in the cellar with smoke. Such processing 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 can be seen that the needles effectively serve not only as a healer of the garden and vegetable garden, 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 has many chemical elements: calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, etc.

Of course, there are obvious opponents of the use of needles in the areas, indicating the harmfulness of removing green needles from trees and the possibility of terpenes, ethers, etc. getting into the water and soil from it. Practice does not confirm this, since the doses of removing needles from the forest and introducing it garden and vegetable garden are very small, and between the properties of green and fallen needles, scientists have not found a noticeable difference. So, it is quite possible to do with fallen needles.

Anatoly Veselov, gardener

Nowadays, it is gaining more and more popularity natural farming... In addition to a significant reduction in volume earthworks, the pleasure of receiving high yields various garden crops, this method requires the mandatory use of mulch. Can be used as mulch different materials... Needle mulching is used when growing many plants that are not afraid of acidified soil. For these purposes, not green pine needles are used, but brown, long fallen ones.

Purpose of mulch

Mulch refers to any type of loose air and moisture permeable biodegradable material that is applied to the surface of the soil. Mulch application provides:

• keeping the soil moist for a long time;
• growth retardation of many types of weeds;
• maintaining optimal temperature soil;
• creation of humus with gradual decay;
• maintaining the vital activity of useful organisms inhabiting the upper layer of the earth.

Growing plants on soil covered with a layer of mulch gives incomparably 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 the heated ground.

If you rush to lay the mulch in the spring, then the ground under it will remain cold for a long time. The effect of such an application will be the opposite - a delay in the development of plants.

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

Many natural materials can be used as mulch:

• coniferous litter;
• hay, straw;
• husk from seeds, buckwheat;
• shells from pine nuts;
• dry last year's leaves;
• sawdust and shavings;
• chips from the bark of trees;
• 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, they require updating after a year, as they decompose in the soil.

Currently, in addition to natural shelters, modern nonwovens are used:

• spunbond;
• agril;
• lutrasil;
• virotex.

They allow moisture to flow to the ground and retard evaporation. Their use is justified by the ease of acquisition and use. But to create a real humus under such a shelter will not work. Such a cover will not provide nutrition for the plant.

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

Raking the needles into bags, you can see white mycelium veins under the pine needles. These myceliums provide the soil with increased nutrition and protection. Fertility, both in the wild and in the garden beds, is created by soil dwellers who actively process a thick layer of needles.

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

Pine mulch application

In the horticultural literature, you can read about the restrictions on the use of pine needles. It is acidic and over time, with continued use, acidifies the earth. Not all plants like this. Someone needs such land, someone suffers and gets sick in such conditions.

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

• for an apple tree;
• pears;
• cherries;
• plums;
• quince;
• gooseberry;
• currants.

Medium acid soil is suitable for:

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

Pine mulch helps sunflower, eggplant, onion and garlic grow.

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

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

Pine needles contain natural phytoncides that fight fungal and bacterial diseases. Also the needles includes great amount vitamins and minerals that gradually pass into the soil.

Raspberries

Needle mulch allows you to grow luxurious crops using biotechnology, which was studied and described by the outstanding Russian land surveyor Alexander Kuznetsov. Its principle is that root microbes and fungal mycorrhiza provide nutrition to plants. Microbes and fungi do not live in the arable layer, only in overheated plant residues.

That is, covering the beds with raspberries with coniferous litter or any organic mulch, they 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 fungi enrich the soil nutrients... Pine mulch is a natural habitat of mycorrhiza.

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 grams to 10-12 grams. Fruiting remontant raspberry instead of August, starts in mid-July.

In the beds, which are mulched every year, the plants either do not get sick at all or the disease manifests itself weakly. With such agricultural technology, fertilizers are not needed, frequent watering, chemicals for baiting pests.

Strawberry (strawberry)

When using Kuznetsov's biotechnology, strawberries, instead of ordinary berries weighing 40 grams, produced berries weighing 65 grams each. The harvest has increased 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 berries. Mice will not settle in it either. The mulch layer should be at least 5-7 cm high.

Lingonberry, blueberry, cranberry

The cultivation of these crops is gradually becoming fashionable. Small plantations are established in fenced beds covered with peat. For good development plants, they are watered with acidic solutions. Sheltering 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. The needles will not only retain moisture, interfere with the emergence of weeds, 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, loosening the beds is reduced.

It is very good to cover the roots of berry bushes, fruit trees, grapes and strawberries with pine mulch for the winter. Protecting from freezing wind 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 prevent them from settling in the shelters built for grapes and roses.