how to make pine cone mulch

Radford · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Aurora,TEXAS

We have tons of pine cones but no chipper/shredder. Is there a homemade way to grind up the cones into mulch?

khwoz · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 771 Location: Weatherford,TX

I would rent a shredder if possible. You could also dump the cones in your driveway & drive car/truck back & forth over the cones. A bagging mower would also grind them (probably hard on mower). If all this doesn't work, throw them in your compost pile.

CaptainCompostAL · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 849 Location: Irondale,Alabama

Some tough large lawn mowers can do the job very well.
If you use the mower method, throw the chopped up mulch from the machine, toward a tall safe wall.

Happy Gardening!

krisfj40 · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 6 Location: Katy,TEXAS

On my walk this evening in our neighborhood, one of the houses had collected all of their pinecones from their 2 LARGE pine trees and mixed it in with their mulch at the base of all of their trees.

I'm sure it takes a while to break down, but it provided a lot of interest to the landscaping and really looked good as well.

Radford · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Aurora,TEXAS

I liked the look of the pine cones piled in the flower beds, but the cones are no so good for stepping into the beds. We finally decided to buy a chipper/shredder, and I love pine cone mulch. It is rich and dark and smells great. I found it helpful to wet the cones so they would close up and fit in the chute better. You have to feed them slowly because they like to wobble around and jam together.
Thanks for all of the great ideas. :D