I live in Portland, OR and I have a 100+ ft sequoia in my back yard. Keeping up with the falling needles/leaves is a year-round project. I've often wondered if they would make good compost. And yesterday there was a sever windstorm has blanketed my raised beds (and much of my yard) with a half-inch of sequoia needles. I'm considering just leaving the layer of needles at the base of my plants to act as a mulch. Does anyone have experience with this? Is this a good idea?
Conifer needles from pines typically are very acidic however they dissolve as they decompose.... Sequoia needles can be composted but it takes a while. One trick is to heat up the pile
I have the same situation as you. I'm also in Portland. My backyard neighbors have a giant sequoia, & as I prepped my raised beds today, the needles were everywhere (apparently they're actually the equivalent of pine cones https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_058995.pdf).
My impulse was to generally remove them, but not sweat every last one. That seems borne out from reading. Conifer droppings (needles, pine cones, etc) break down much slower, so they're not ideal as compost, & articles I've read suggest keeping them to 10% of compost composition (as "brown" material).
But as insulating mulch, seems like they do the trick for those same reasons. Related reading:
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/landscaping/21213325/should-i-mulch-with-pine-needles
https://www.hunker.com/12547097/are-pine-cones-good-for-mulch
