Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
I thought too much pine needle turns the soil acidic and inhibits garden production???
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It can. Some locales benefit from added lime, to drop the acid content. Others would actually benefit from pine needles, because their soil is naturally low acid. Texas has typically a high content of lime in some areas. The way to know for sure is to check the ph of your soil. If it’s acidic, add lime (and probably forego the pine needles). If the ph is too low, pine needles will benefit your soil ph, and make a great mulch as well.
Ph is very important. Different plants like slightly different ph levels. Usually if you amend your soil to a balance of ph that is kind of in the middle of the range, it will work for a lot of different plants.
If your ph is out of the range of whatever plant you are trying to grow, it will behave as though it needs fertilizer. The soil can be fertile, but if the ph is off, the nutrients will not be available for the plants to take up.