Should You Rake Pine Needles? How to Remove Them Efficiently

Pine trees look beautiful, but they can become quite a nuisance if their needles keep falling on your lawn. Pine needles can cause severe damage to the grass and other plants in your yard. If you’re tired of letting them cover the whole area, it’s time to take action.

You should rake pine needles with a garden rake to prevent them from damaging the lawn. Pine needles can prevent vital nutrients and oxygen from reaching the lawn’s roots, stopping them from growing. Rake your lawn whenever you can’t see the green grass blades from under the needles.

Throughout this post, I’ll explain why you need to rake pine needles off of your lawn, how to get rid of them efficiently, and what you should know before doing so. I’ll also talk about a few ways to use leftover pine needles.

Are Pine Needles Bad For Your Lawn?

Dealing with pine cones and pine needles is seemingly unavoidable if you have a pine tree in the yard. The worst is when your neighbor’s tree hangs over the edge, causing you to handle the pines. If you’re looking for a routine or why pine needles can be so detrimental to your lawn, check out my guide of why pine needles can kill the grass.

However, that’s not the only reason they’re bad. Below, you’ll find three reasons to rake pine needles off of your lawn as soon as possible.

Pine Needles Prevent Nutrient Absorption in Grass

According to Mr. Tree Services, pine needles are capable of preventing your grass from reaching its full potential. Grass roots need plenty of sunlight, nutrients, and water, all of which are blocked if there are too many pine needles piled on top of them. Thankfully, raking the pine needles stops this issue in its tracks.

Some HOAs Have Rules Regarding Pine Needles

HOAs (Homeowner’s Association properties) are subject to various strict rules. If you signed to rent or buy a house within an HOA area, you likely read the agreement. Most of these contracts prevent neighborhoods from looking overrun or mismanaged, so you’ll have to sweep or rake the pine needles and pine cones out of the yard and sidewalk if you want to avoid a bad letter.

They’re Too Heavy for the Grass

Pine needles are relatively lightweight, but can quickly pile on each other to cover the grass and push the blades down. When the blades are pressed for too long, they can break or grow in the wrong direction. This problem typically takes quite some time and is often a sign of many months of neglect.

Pine needles aren’t the best for your lawn, but I’ll talk about a few reasons they could be beneficial for your lifestyle later in the article. You’re here to get rid of them by one method or another, so let’s dive into some tips in the following section.

Tips to Remove Pine Needles From Grass

Removing pine needles from the grass is essential if you want to maintain a nice, neat, healthy lawn. These trees, cones, and needles look stunning in the wild, but they’re a chore for those who have to deal with fallen droppings. That being said, following the four suggestions below will restore their beauty and make them much more relaxing to handle.

1. Rake the pine needles in one direction to keep them organized and prevent unwanted damage to the lawn. Never try circular motions or random raking. I always rake my pine needles into a pile at the end of the lawn. It ends up looking like a long pile, then I toss the needles into the yardwaste bin.
2. Use a push broom to remove pine needles off of the driveway, sidewalk, porch, and street. While your goal is to help your lawn, it’s a good idea to brush these areas to keep your house and neighborhood looking good to those in and around it. You wouldn’t want to get some mail from the city complaining about them!
3. Get the pine needles off of your lawn before they turn brown and brittle. Pine needles are extremely flammable, especially when the needles turn brown and break apart. Hunker claims hundreds of fires happen each year due to pine trees burning. Brittle pine needles crush apart and become much more difficult to clean and remove, too.
4. You can use a leaf vacuum to deal with pine needles. The Black + Decker Leaf Vacuum doubles as a leaf blower. It can also be used as a mulcher. You can remove loads of pine needles, leaves, and dead grass with this handy tool in a matter of minutes. It comes with a removable back for quicker emptying than most models, too.

What to Know Before Raking Pine Needles

Before raking the pine needles around your yard, it’s important to keep in mind that they can be crushed and crumbled around the yard. Don’t use a thatching rake as you would for dead grass because it’ll increase the chances of breaking brittle, brown pine needles.

Another suggestion is to keep your grass mowed to about 2.5 inches. If the grass grows too high, it’ll trap pine needles and tangle around the rake. You’ll end up ripping the lawn apart while trying to remove the pine needles.

Are Pine Needles Good for Anything?

You might be overwhelmed with pine needles and wonder how anyone could possibly find a good use for them. Contrary to the way you might feel right now, pine needles have dozens of useful traits. First and foremost, they’re great for the environment!

This is how you can use pine needles from your yard for good purposes:

• You can use pine needles for many arts and crafts. Some people make baskets and others make brooms. There are countless fun designs you can do with all of the leftover pine needles. For the best results, gather them when they’re green, so they’re still flexible and easy to work with.
• Decomposed pine needles contain plenty of essential nutrients for plants to grow healthily. Much like most other plants worldwide, pine needles break down and help the soil. This process is why pine trees are an miportant part of big forests around the globe. It doesn’t hurt to leave a few of them around the area without coating the grass.
• Add pine needles to your compost pile. Dead plants are a significant portion of compost bins, including grass clippings, pine needles, and flowers. You can toss a lot of your raked pine needles into the compost pile, aerate the bin, and watch as they slowly decompose over the course of a few months. Use the ferttilize to grow various plants around your garden or donate it to a local farm!

As you can see, pine needles aren’t all that bad. They have plenty of benefits, making it enjoyable to gather them and find a solution for the problem. Whether you’re using a rake, shovel, leaf vacuum, or something else, you can easily manage your pine needle problems once you create a weekly routine.

In Conclusion

Raking pine needles is easy, though it might not feel like the most exciting way to spend an afternoon. Remember, if your lawn is mostly dirt, you can use a push broom to pile the pine needles together. Push brooms are also an excellent tool for getting rid of pine needles on sidewalks, driveways, and streets.

Although they’re frustrating to rake, pine needles can be used for compost piles, creatives projects, and more. If you’re stuck with one and you can’t remove it, try to make the most of it!