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I need to get a good day of straw baling in tomorrow. It has rained too much for two weeks to get any done.

I saw pictures today of the Alabama River a few miles from the house and it is verrryyy high.

It hasn't rained much here, but it has snowed pretty often. Unfortunately, we only get like an inch of snow (max) every time so they are just nuisance storms. :frown:
Good luck!

Always learning something new. Never heard of pine straw so I looked it up. I have some pine tree groves in my woods and could see where it could be baled after years of old pine needles have dropped. I would like to know more on this? What do you do rake up the needles and dry them out? Then I take it you must bail them some how maybe like wheat or oat straw. Is this some kind of pine tree that drops it needles yearly because I find it would take years to get enought needles to bale on any pine trees around here in northern NY.

reynoldston said:

Always learning something new. Never heard of pine straw so I looked it up. I have some pine tree groves in my woods and could see where it could be baled after years of old pine needles have dropped. I would like to know more on this? What do you do rake up the needles and dry them out? Then I take it you must bail them some how maybe like wheat or oat straw. Is this some kind of pine tree that drops it needles yearly because I find it would take years to get enought needles to bale on any pine trees around here in northern NY.

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I asked the same question in post #8 of this thread: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/general-mower-discussion/13474-pine-straw-baler.html

reynoldston said:

Always learning something new. Never heard of pine straw so I looked it up. I have some pine tree groves in my woods and could see where it could be baled after years of old pine needles have dropped. I would like to know more on this? What do you do rake up the needles and dry them out? Then I take it you must bail them some how maybe like wheat or oat straw. Is this some kind of pine tree that drops it needles yearly because I find it would take years to get enought needles to bale on any pine trees around here in northern NY.

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I also did not know what pine straw was till I moved down here. Up in mass we got paid to remove pine needles down here we get paid to install them.
You bale pine straw just as you would hay or wheat straw.

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Carscw said:

I also did not know what pine straw was till I moved down here. Up in mass we got paid to remove pine needles down here we get paid to install them.
You bale pine straw just as you would hay or wheat straw.

Sent from my iPhone using LMF

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We are just getting things going here to bale it. I have been observing it for a good while. Back in the early to mid 1970's we had a small custom hay operation and even back then we baled some for a contractor who was using it for nature trails on a government park project.

To bale it like people want it today for beds, you want a different bale than the ones that the old square balers baled though. The old square balers had a knife that cut the hay as the plunger pushed it thus making what we always called the "cut side". This worked great for hay and it makes it stack tight because the cut side is some what heavier. Thus you stack it with with the cut side inside.....

Pine straw on the other hand is drier and more brittle. Therefore if you pack it as tight as a square hay baler will bale it and have the "cut side" on it the hay will not fluff as pretty in the beds nor the color last as long.

Most producers I read about and straw bales I see are either baled in a box baler or a tiny round bale. There are various types of box type balers around. Some are hand types that work similar to the one I have pictured in my pictures. There some that are made of steel that have a motor that runs a hydraulic pump and a cylinder similar to a big wood splitter that forces a ram forward to pack.

It is big business in some places. Southern Longleaf Pine is a valued commodity if you can find it and sells well.

I built the rake and baler both for less than $200 together and a few hours of work will give me my investment back......

It is not a get rich quick scheme but is a good income during slack times when there is not other work like cutting grass or trimming shrubbery.

I have a lot of pine needles resting on my 5 acre lot. Will it kill my grass? Should I vacuum it and dump it in the trash? I guess I should buy a shredder vac.

Pine needles I should have said. I guess I need to buy a shredder vac.

Bomba said:

I have a lot of pine needles resting on my 5 acre lot. Will it kill my grass? Should I vacuum it and dump it in the trash? I guess I should buy a shredder vac.

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I wish you lived close to me. I would love to rake them up and bale them and resell them for landscaping work. If you have 5 acres and it is possibly Longleaf pine, you will be burning up a large pile of money.

Should I keep it and sell the pine needles as they are? If I can gather them all up, that is.

Bomba said:

Should I keep it and sell the pine needles as they are? If I can gather them all up, that is.

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I guess that it would depend on how you could market it. I have a press box baler and a rake I made to pull behind my lawn tractor. I have a couple of places that have told me that they will sell it on consignment for me locally here.

Regular straw like from a Slash or Loblolly or other types will bring $3.50 or more a bale. Longleaf will bring $5.00 per bale or more. IF you have a way to get it up and can market it 5 acres ought to be several hundred or more dollars possibly a thoudand or more dollars depending on what kind it is and where you can get rid of it...... I could get rid of probably several hundred bales of Longleaf right now if I could get it. If the weather ever dries up here I can get some other variety and intend to start the first day it is dry enough to bale. I wish I had 5 acres of planted Longleaf Pine here that was several years old and flat and I could gather straw in it. I could pay for the land in a very few years if it had straw like some places I have seen.

Bomba said:

Should I keep it and sell the pine needles as they are? If I can gather them all up, that is.

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Ask the wife if it's OK to bale them in the trash compactor. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

SandburRanch said:

Ask the wife if it's OK to bale them in the trash compactor. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

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I don't think that will work.:confused2:

jekjr said:

I don't think that will work.:confused2:

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Sure it will, until you get caught. :laughing:

SandburRanch said:

Sure it will, until you get caught. :laughing:

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Hahaha! Actually, my wife just bought a composter. I guess the pine straw will be going in there with the potato skins and the coffee grounds!