You have a pine tree in your yard with what looks like a carpet of pine needles. You want to get rid of them, but you don’t want to throw them out. Can you compost pine needles? Yes, with a couple of caveats.
Pine needles decompose slowly, which is why some gardeners will use pine needles as mulch. As they decompose, they provide carbon and other nutrients back into the soil for the plants to use. Basically, they eventually compost anyway.
This slow decomposition means that they can be in your compost for quite a while without breaking down. They have a waxy substance that the microorganisms in your compost pile can’t easily break through.
Acidic Pine Needles in Compost
Pine needles are also fairly acidic. Unlike oranges and citrus fruit, they lose that acidity fairly quickly and aren’t usually a problem for your compost pile.
Benefits of Pine Needles for Compost and Garden
Pine needles are a great source of carbon (brown) material for your compost. You need a mix of carbon-rich materials, nitrogen-rich materials, moisture, and oxygen for your compost to work effectively. The right mix of materials helps your garden or lawn grow.
The hard nature of pine needles also provides a bit of structure or space within your compost pile. Basically, they create open spaces. Moisture and oxygen can get trapped in that space. The organisms that compost rely on like moisture and oxygen, and they will multiply and grow. This makes your compost pile warmer and more effective, so things in it decompose faster.
How To Compost Pine Needles
You don’t want to add more than 10% of your compost pile as pine needles. So, don’t add that entire carpet of pine needles to your compost. Make sure that you mix the pine needles with a good amount of green material.
Pine needles add some structure to the compost pile and can create space for air, improving the composting process.
For best results, consider using your pine needles as mulch for a season and then add them to your compost pile. This will help them break down more quickly.
How to Compost Pine Needles Fast
If you don’t want to wait for the mulch, then you can help the process by breaking them down more before adding them to your compost. One way to do this is to rake them into a pile and run your lawn mower over them. Then you can add the broken-down pine needles into your compost for better results.
Remember, fast is relative to composting. This will cut down the time significantly but composting takes time.
Can I Compost Pine Needles?
You can add pine needles to your compost, but you want to be careful about how you do it. They take some time to break down, so you want to help that process either by breaking them down in advance as we do with many other materials in compost or by letting nature do the work. They make great mulch.
You don’t want to add too many pine needles to your compost, but that still leaves you a lot of room to add pine needles to the compost and get them out of your yard without throwing them out.
Otherwise, pine needles are good for compost. They add carbon to your compost mix and provide a small amount of structure to help make room for moisture and oxygen in the middle of your compost pile.