How do you square bale pine needles.........
like you buy at Lowes, HD, etc??? In my life, back when I was a really sad excuse of a farmer, over X number of years I probably baled around 150,000 small square (14" X 18" ? bale chamber) bales of hay and straw.
So today my boy is helping a neighbor mulch some of her landscaping with bales of pine needles which he went to Lowes with his PU and got for her. So on his way back to his place he stopped to get some water and talk to us. He asked me how they bale those pine needles and I had to admit that I had no clue. I just couldn't see a tractor and baler going through a pine woods pumping out pine needle bales.
My best guess was a stationary baler, kind of like they used 100 years ago when the loose hay in a barn was baled to ship out on the train to go where ever they were wanting the hay.
So, does anyone know how those pine needles get from the pine tree to the Lowes pine needle trailer???
So today my boy is helping a neighbor mulch some of her landscaping with bales of pine needles which he went to Lowes with his PU and got for her. So on his way back to his place he stopped to get some water and talk to us. He asked me how they bale those pine needles and I had to admit that I had no clue. I just couldn't see a tractor and baler going through a pine woods pumping out pine needle bales.
My best guess was a stationary baler, kind of like they used 100 years ago when the loose hay in a barn was baled to ship out on the train to go where ever they were wanting the hay.
So, does anyone know how those pine needles get from the pine tree to the Lowes pine needle trailer???
0
-
Were there any left over Christmas decorations in the bales? 0 -
google had a lady using a square wooden box baler, I am sure there are fancier comercial ones available, basically a wooden box, stuff it full and pack down then tie it like bale, open and remove bale..... 0 -
Men with rakes and a box baler. Don 0 -
I remember that if everything was going right I could run 400 to 420 50+ lb. hay bales an hour through my New Holland baler. I will concede that it had to be a good field of hay to achieve those hourly numbers. Pulled that baler with an Allis Chalmers D-17. The hand clutch was ever so convenient with that baler. I loved that tractor!!
But looking at what you guys posted, I can't imagine filling up a semi trailer with hand made bales. Looks like a whole world of work!!
Lord have mercy. I'm still enough man I could sit on that D-17 again but I know I'm not enough man to fill up a semi trailer with a hand baler!!
0 -
For a smaller bale of needles, make yourself a box that will fit on the end of a log splitter. Compact the needles into a bale and hand feed baling wire and twist the wire tight. Similar to the old stationary balers that folks used in the 1930's - 1940's. 0 -
In California, the bales grow on the trees. 0 -
The odd part is that there are enough weird "chitty" folks willing to buy such a thing as to make it worthwhile to produce. 0 -
For the life of me, I cannot imagine a market for baled pine needles.
Please shed some light on this .
:!:0 -
The pine needles are used for a decorative mulch in landscaping. If done right they look nice and keep the weeds from growing like other types of mulch. I usually use wood mulch around the bushes/flowers but use grass clippings (I have a bagger on my mower) in my garden. If I mulch early and heavy around my maters and pepper plants I don't have to do any weeding and don't need to water as often. Come fall, I just rototill that grass in and it adds organic matter to the soil. But I do use the occasional bale of pine needles.
I guess you could say I do a lot of mulching.0 -
I have used grass clippings to cover freshly seeded grass areas.
Around newly planted small trees, use mfg rubber 'rings' to prevent weeks/grass growth.
In flower beds, use cedar chips ... helps keep bugs/insects at bay. Sadly, they tend to float out when getting a hard rain.
Last year, cleared out the last of the wood chips and put in dyed rubber chips purchased from local home improvement center. They look good andwill last for years.0 -
A friend of mine did the same thing 5 or 6 years ago, and ended up putting wood mulch back. Problem was, after enough time and rain,.....the rubber mulch started to smell strongly of mildewed rubber. I mean stink all the way around his house.Quick&Dead wrote:I have used grass clippings to cover freshly seeded grass areas.
Around newly planted small trees, use mfg rubber 'rings' to prevent weeks/grass growth.
In flower beds, use cedar chips ... helps keep bugs/insects at bay. Sadly, they tend to float out when getting a hard rain.
Last year, cleared out the last of the wood chips and put in dyed rubber chips purchased from local home improvement center. They look good andwill last for years.
He tried unsuccessfully to get rid of it by spraying with a bleach solution. All he accomplished was to kill half of his plants.
I was considering it, but after seeing that experience, stuck with the wood chips. YMMV0 -
Our red rubber mulch still looks good after 4 years, but it gets a lot of sun. May be the difference in climate.
It has darkened up a bit.
I?ll never use plant based mulch again.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
13 comments