PINE STRAW
Throughout the South, pine straw is used in flower beds, landscape border areas, and as ground cover. When pine straw decomposes it provides virtually no nutrients to the soil; but it does provide shade, insulate root systems, retain moisture in the soil, and is very attractive.
Because pine needles decompose quickly, they lose their color and volume over a period of just a few months. For both luxury residential  commercial properties, typical maintenance calls for adding straw every three to six months, called "topdressing", to maintain volume and appearance. Over a short period of time, the old straw underneath becomes matted and spongy. Rather than transmit rainfall to the soil and plant roots, this layer of material absorbs and traps moisture. The roots of the plants, seeking the moisture, stay near the soil surface.  This moist, decomposed straw can act like a second soil layer, and the plant roots may actually grow up into it. For this reason, in addition to the top-dressing, old straw should be raked out annually, the ground treated with a pre-emergent herbicide, and the straw replaced.

TEXTRAW
With Textraw you don't have these problems. Textraw is made from recycled polypropylene, and does not come with any weed or grass seeds, sticks, cones, leaves, twigs, bugs, spiders, mites, any other critters, mold spores, or mildew. Indeed, Textraw will not support any of these ugly and dangerous "extras" that come with pine straw!

BUGS
When you use pine straw, you get something extra! Insects, especially cockroaches and termites, are attracted to the dark, moist environment of decomposing pine straw. You will find pine straw laid up in decorative beds around the foundations of homes and commercial buildings. Folks who work hard to keep roaches and termites out of their homes and businesses unwittingly create an attractive environment for them right at the entrance to the house.  Since pine straw is "harvested" and baled right of the forest floor, everything on the forest floor is in the package:

• Weed and grass seeds
• Sticks, cones, leaves, and twigs
• Spiders, mites, and other critters
• Mold spores and mildew

COLOR
Needles about to fall in the Spring months are reddish brown. Fall needles are a lighter yellowish brown. As odd as it may seem in the pine-laden area of South Georgia, good, fresh pine straw is in short supply. But whether it is immediately harvested and baled, or lying on the forest floor awaiting harvest, pine straw begins to decompose immediately, losing its color over a period of 6 months, turning first a dull brown, and then a bleached gray.

TEXTRAW
With Textraw you don't have this color change. It always looks fresh! The UV rays from sunlight over a period of years will begin to decompose the surface exposed, but routine fluffing will expose a different surface, and give you many more years of use. TEXTRAW contains ultraviolet inhibitors to keep its color from fading due to sunlight. We have tested it in an accelerated weatherometer to the equivalent of 4 years outdoor exposure in South Florida without significant color loss. Surface fibers are more exposed to these UV rays. So fluffing TEXTRAW not only turns under organic debris, but it extends its life.

BED PREPARATION
In preparing flower beds and border areas for strawing, landscapers typically remove all material down to the soil base, then treat the soil with a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weed and grass seeds from germinating. Then after this is a costly, labor-intensive procedure, bales of pine straw is spread, which contain untreated weed and grass seeds, mold and mildew, and all the critters the landscaper worked to clear out!

TEXTRAW
With Textraw, you do the ground prep only once! Remove old, matted straw, pull weeds, treat with a pre-emergent herbicide, and place Textraw to the recommended thickness of 3-1/2 inches. After that, the only maintenance needed is to fluff from time to time, because it does not decompose, and no weeds, seeds, or critters come with it! Fluffing will allow a different surface to be exposed to the UV rays of sunlight, prolonging the life of Textraw for many years.

FLUFFING
As leaves fall into beds, normally pine straw is "fluffed", or turned. The leaves are turned under, where they decompose into the soil. It's difficult to fluff old, matted pine straw, because it crumbles. Pine straw will need fluffing every 3-6 months, and replaced every year!

TEXTRAW
It's easy to fluff TEXTRAW. TEXTRAW contains ultraviolet inhibitors to keep its color from fading due to sunlight. We have tested it in an accelerated weatherometer to the equivalent of 4 years outdoor exposure in South Florida without significant color loss. Surface fibers are more exposed to these UV rays. So fluffing TEXTRAW not only turns under organic debris, but it extends its life.

COVERAGE
TEXTRAW is packaged in a 20 lb. roll which covers approx. 40 square feet to a depth of 3-3 1/2 inches. Natural pine straw needs to be top-dressed to compensate for decomposition, and it becomes brittle as it ages, so it cannot be fluffed except soon after placement. TEXTRAW can be fluffed whenever additional volume is desired. The TEXTRAW roll is the equivalent to 1-1/3 bales of pine straw. Since it needs only be maintained over an extended life cycle rather than replaced, long term costs are typically 30% less than natural straw, along with superior appearance and greatly reduced labor. TEXTRAW savings in labor and materials increase over time, without the variation and deterioration in appearance of natural straw. Landscapers can spend more time maintaining the aesthetics of the property, less time fighting weeds, and spreading bales that vary in quality from vendor to vendor, and with the season.