HugelKultur Advice

[RussHealesville]

I'm sure there's already a thread on this so moderators please feel free to merge.
I'm having 2 big radiata pines removed this spring and will have a lot of pine chips and branches at my disposal. I'm hoping to use them to create a Hugelkultur. Is pine ok to do this with. My soil is predominantly clay and my hill faces ENE. I'm only just beginning to map out my beds and remove the blackberries. Any advice on such a system would be great.

[Pakanohida]

It's my experience to make a deadwood swale on top of clay, not starting partially buried. It works out better in the long run.

[NJNative]

From my understanding of it, pine has a lot of compounds that make it not great for using in hugelkulture. The reason is because the compounds discourage seed germination, and overall, the wood takes a lot longer to break down, which means it takes longer to get things established well. For this reason, I would personally use that wood only for edging, path mulch, fence construction, etc.

HOWEVER: If the pines are native to your local ecology, then I would look at the plants that naturally grow around them, and try growing those in a hugel bed with that wood. If they are used to growing in that sort of a substrate, then they should be fine. If the trees are not native to your area, or you don't see any viable guilds in the vicinity, I'd stick to what I said above. If anything, maybe you can use them as some sort of marginal erosion control on the edge of your property where you aren't intensively trying to grow things, and over time they should decompose into a fertile berm.

[Ludi]

Pines are fine to use in hugelkultur.

[NJNative]

No explanation on that point Ludi? I was under the impression that softwood/coniferous wood was not ideal. I'd be happy to hear that it was ok, because I have lots of it around. One thing I do know is that it makes the soil very acidic, so if anything, add lime or seashells to account for that.

[Ludi]

Sorry about my unhelpful blurt. What wood can go in hugelkultur has been an enormous topic of discussion over at permies, and the conclusion seems to be "use what you have." http://www.permies.com/t/12206/perma...-wood-Bad-wood

Hardwoods such as oak are the best, especially if they are rotten. But other woods can be used if you have them, especially if you can mix them with hardwoods and rotten wood. Concerns about acidity or nitrogen deficiency can be addressed by adding the appropriate materials to the pile. A diversity of woods is probably the best.

[NJNative]

Gotcha, good to know. Diversity is yet again the way to go.

[RussHealesville]

So the message I'm getting is pine is ok but mix in some local hardwood.
Use the pinechips for the pathways.
So would the following sound ok
Mark out contours and create a Hugelkultur along the line of the contour. Use a mix of hardwood branches, pine branches, hard and pine woodchips and cover in mulch and soil.
run a path of pinechips in front of the Hugelkultur. Plant in behind it.

[Ludi]

I think most people plant right on the hugelkultur, but I'm not sure exactly where trees are supposed to be planted in relation to the mound, whether on it, or on the uphill side of it, or what.....

[Pakanohida]

So the message I'm getting is pine is ok but mix in some local hardwood.
Use the pinechips for the pathways.
So would the following sound ok
Mark out contours and create a Hugelkultur along the line of the contour. Use a mix of hardwood branches, pine branches, hard and pine woodchips and cover in mulch and soil.
run a path of pinechips in front of the Hugelkultur. Plant in behind it.

Also all your cardboard, paper, scrap non-treated wood from the shop.. all your carbon.