Pine straw vs Grass clippings

[Brown Thumbs]

I've been putting grass clippings around the base of my plants to help with this hot and dry conditions, but the grass isn't growing any longer so I have no clippings to add. I raked up some pine straw and put it all around my pepper plants. Will this work just as good or is the straw too acidic?

[Brown Thumbs]

If I had pine straw, I'd use it! Unless you use really deep mulch, say 6-8", over a prolonged period, I can't see that the pine straw would acidify your soil. It does break down more slowly than clippings, so you may have to rake it off and add it to the compost pile when your pepper plants are finished.

Great, thanks. I covered the row of peppers farily well with what straw I could rake up this morning so hopefully it will help out. We haven't had any rain so I'm just watering each individual plant every 2-3 days. Guess I should turn the sprinkler on and water the whole thing. I still have clippings around my other plants that may work for a while longer.