I also did not know what pine straw was till I moved down here. Up in mass we got paid to remove pine needles down here we get paid to install them.
You bale pine straw just as you would hay or wheat straw.
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We are just getting things going here to bale it. I have been observing it for a good while. Back in the early to mid 1970's we had a small custom hay operation and even back then we baled some for a contractor who was using it for nature trails on a government park project.
To bale it like people want it today for beds, you want a different bale than the ones that the old square balers baled though. The old square balers had a knife that cut the hay as the plunger pushed it thus making what we always called the "cut side". This worked great for hay and it makes it stack tight because the cut side is some what heavier. Thus you stack it with with the cut side inside.....
Pine straw on the other hand is drier and more brittle. Therefore if you pack it as tight as a square hay baler will bale it and have the "cut side" on it the hay will not fluff as pretty in the beds nor the color last as long.
Most producers I read about and straw bales I see are either baled in a box baler or a tiny round bale. There are various types of box type balers around. Some are hand types that work similar to the one I have pictured in my pictures. There some that are made of steel that have a motor that runs a hydraulic pump and a cylinder similar to a big wood splitter that forces a ram forward to pack.
It is big business in some places. Southern Longleaf Pine is a valued commodity if you can find it and sells well.
I built the rake and baler both for less than $200 together and a few hours of work will give me my investment back......
It is not a get rich quick scheme but is a good income during slack times when there is not other work like cutting grass or trimming shrubbery.
