Replacing Pine Straw with River Rock

[cquick]

My husband wants to replace our Pine Straw with River Rock. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[photo1902]

My husband wants to replace our Pine Straw with River Rock. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

A lot of people have replaced pine straw with stone. It definitely cuts down on the annual replacement of pine straw, even though the initial cost of the stone is higher.

[villagetinker]

IMHO, talk to the master gardener, Pinellas Library Fridays 9a to 3p. In general stone is not considered to be good. Now having stated this, you will find, and there will be LOTS of comments from people that have done this with no problems. If you talk to master gardener they will give the information you need to make an informed decision. I would suggest that you take photos of your existing plants with you, as you may find these may not be compatible with the heat generated by the stones.
Hope this helps.

[jebartle]

Why?? The Villages uses pine straw and there is a reason. More natural and less maintenance. Some of my neighbors have been fighting the weeds in the rocks after doing everything to stop the weeds, all to no avail! Besides pine straw looks great. Takes 15 minutes to put in yard.

[Polar Bear]

Nothing against pine straw at all. But since I've started using a weed preventer (instead of a weed killer), I've been very happy with river rock.

[billethkid]

If you go to rock be sure they leave a "breathing" circle around the base of the plants.

Pine straw is no more weed free than rocks.

Yes it is cheaper.....but required annually.

Yes it does harbor bugs and creepy crawly stuff.

it is a personal choice.

[Fraugoofy]

My husband wants to replace our Pine Straw with River Rock. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations?

Thanks!
Yes, we replaced ours with slate rock from Village Palm. We did the work ourselves. We bought the black weed paper from Home Depot. We had Village Palm deliver the rock to the end of the driveway and hand shoveled the rocks where we wanted them. VERY happy with the results.

Sent from my SM-N910R4 using Tapatalk

[asianthree]

Have rock at current house, no weed problem, but deans make sure of that. Other two home have pine straw, runs about $50 to $60 a year.

[Opmoochler]

I replaced pine bark chips with rocks because of my husband's mold allergies. Have been very happy so far. There is a lot of pine straw all around the Villages' pine trees that separate the golf course from our property. It tends to blow all over our lawn when it's windy. My only concern about using the pine straw as mulch was ticks, but I don't know that it was a well-founded concern.

[cquick]

We've decided to stay with the straw for this year. We realized we need to do a lot of prep work before installing river rocks. That is a job for the wintertime!

[CFrance]

Why?? The Villages uses pine straw and there is a reason. More natural and less maintenance. Some of my neighbors have been fighting the weeds in the rocks after doing everything to stop the weeds, all to no avail! Besides pine straw looks great. Takes 15 minutes to put in yard.
We all four of us (big dogs and medium-sized humans) track it into the house. It blows onto the walkway, after which we track it into the house. It also harbors ticks (not good for dogs).

It also fades considerably, and the faded pine straw doesn't look so attractive. I don't feel like gathering bales of straw and strewing it around. Not much of a gardener, I guess, but stone works the best for us. We have the weed barrier underneath. I pull the occasional weed out, and our quarterly trimmer takes care of the rest.

[Villagerjjm]

Ticks and other insects are of no concern when using pine straw as mulch. It is very effective at controlling weeds and it is fire retardant in spite of the dry look. You get less weeds with pine straw compared to rock. If you use a long term weed control like something that says "Weed Preventer", it may begin to have an effect on your permanent plants because the active ingredients remain in the soil and get absorbed by ALL the plants. Pine straw should be enhanced every year with a new layer. If there is concern about possible mold allergies, the older pine straw should be removed and bagged before putting down a new layer. -J.Mahoney/Master Gardener/UFAS

[Cedwards38]

I made that change and it's made my maintenance work much easier and looks great. Rock stays in place much better during hard rains too.

[CFrance]

I made that change and it's made my maintenance work much easier and looks great. Rock stays in place much better during hard rains too.
I agree, there can be practical reasons to switch to rock. And not everyone likes to do yard work, especially when it's 95 out.

[DeanFL]

In our TV house for almost 3 years. Had the builder pine straw all around. When designing our new landscaping with stacked walls etc, decided we want a red/brown stone look for rocks, inside the cream stacked walls. Got quotes - initially I preferred red lava rock, as the cost seemed about 1/3 of river rock. I did our backyard, with lava rock-bagged from HD, and it looked just great around the plants and patio.
When we talked with landscape co's for front qoutes - one said NO to lava rock as it developed blackish mold over time due to the pores. That said we went with reddish river rock for our front - 2+years later, the rock and front landscape looks like new and beautiful - the back, yes...blackish coverage on much of the lava rock - oh well...live with it.

[courtyard]

My neighbor's yard looks great. For the first 2 years they had pine straw which they later removed and put in natural Pine Bark (with no weed barrier underneath). It seems the acid loving plants that TV plants for you love the pine straw/bark, which act as a natural acidic fertilizer. Their yard looks lush even in the winter :-)

[autumnspring]

In our TV house for almost 3 years. Had the builder pine straw all around. When designing our new landscaping with stacked walls etc, decided we want a red/brown stone look for rocks, inside the cream stacked walls. Got quotes - initially I preferred red lava rock, as the cost seemed about 1/3 of river rock. I did our backyard, with lava rock-bagged from HD, and it looked just great around the plants and patio.
When we talked with landscape co's for front qoutes - one said NO to lava rock as it developed blackish mold over time due to the pores. That said we went with reddish river rock for our front - 2+years later, the rock and front landscape looks like new and beautiful - the back, yes...blackish coverage on much of the lava rock - oh well...live with it.

Not sure who is laughing more. The people who sell manure, the people who sell pine needles, or the people who sell rocks. We still have pine needles. Our house is 2400 sq foot. I put down 4 bales of pine straw a year to replace what has rotted into the soil. Not at all a major expense they are about $4.00 a bale at home depo. I pull weeds with a long handled garden claw. I do not need to bend my bad back. You could not do this with stone. The claw will tear the weed preventer fabric.

I like your thought LIVE WITH IT. If you fight mother nature YOU WILL LOOSE

HAPPY DAYS.