Transform Your Lawn with The Last Straw of Georgia

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The Last Straw is Pine Straw, Perfected: synthetic pine needles which maintain their beauty for years. Achieving that long-lasting beauty depends on proper site selection and maintenance. We call this TLC – for The Last Straw Landscape Conversion. TLC is about making good choices that produce an environment which is healthy for plant root systems, consistently attractive, and cost-effective. It isn’t by accident that nurseries grow plants in greenhouses. 

The greenhouse environment provides the ability to control temperatures, humidity, and protection from insects and disease. The controlled environment produces healthy plants.These plants are then transferred out of the controlled environment into the garden. It stands to reason that maintaining control of some elements of that environment will produce healthier plants. 

Camel Spit is made for severe slopes. Installed at the recommended ½ pound per square foot (about 3 inches deep), The Last Straw with Camel Spit can be used on slopes as steep as 60 degrees. Camel Spit is also ideal for border edges, acting like a long-lasting “hairspray” to maintain carefully formed tuck-and-rolls, or in areas with moderate water flow and leaf fall, to prevent The Last Straw from migration. 

Camel Spit acts as a surface tackifier, maintaining maximum volume of the installation every time it is fluffed. Camel Spit lets you or your landscaping crew clean up pruning, trimmings and leaves with a blower of any size while keeping your straw in place.

Site Selection 

Leaf-fall

Heavily wooded landscape requires additional maintenance due to leaf fall. Leaves can be either blown off or vacuumed from The Last Straw. The Last Straw which is installed with a coating of Camel Spit spray. (Such areas may be better designed with shade-resistant ground covers.) 

Pine Trees

 Once natural needles intermingle with The Last Straw, they will stay intermingled. We recommend that The Last Straw not be installed under pine trees. 

Flood areas

 The Last Straw is heavier than pine needles and water. 

Downspouts.

The Last Straw, which is installed along the drip-line beneath the eaves, effectively disperses rainfall, eliminating splash at the foundation and loss of soil. But use appropriate diverting methods for downspout flow, such as concrete pads or buried flex hose. 

Traffic Areas

Parking area installations should be designed with consideration given to foot traffic. Walking on The Last Straw in no way damages it, but the use of stepping stones or equivalent footpaths will reduce product loss and migration due to foot traffic. Use of border edging and Camel Spit is recommended.

Site Preparation and Installation

Stripping vs. Top-dressing

The Last Straw recommends coverage of 1/2 pound per square foot. This produces an installed depth of 3 inches. Each bale of The Last Straw covers 80 sq ft. The old decomposing mulch should be removed, and the soil treated with pre-emergent, to kill any ungerminated weed seeds. If The Last Straw is applied as a top-dress over old natural straw, seeds in the old straw will continue to germinate, requiring repeated treatments to control weeds. This decomposing material also blocks airflow to roots, impedes evaporation, and promotes a welcoming environment for termites, roaches, mold, and mildew. That means more labor and chemical treatments. While the installation may look good initially, the needles cannot be fluffed without mixing the two layers, and the and the only option will be to continually add layers of The Last Straw top-dressing.