The effect of soil scarification on decomposition of green Scots pine(Pinus sylvestrisL.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies(L.) Karst.) needles and mineral nutrient release was investigated. The treatments studied were ploughing, disk trenching, mound on inverted humus and untreated control. The study was conducted on two clear‐felled sites with different ground moisture conditions, located in south Sweden. The needles decomposed and released their contents of N and Ca considerably faster on scarified areas than on untreated ones. For P, Mg and especially K, only minor differences between scarified and untreated areas were established. At the wet site, needle decomposition and nutrient mineralization were generally affected to the same extent by all three scarification methods studied. At the dry to fresh site, mounding and ploughing enhanced needle decomposition and nutrient mineralization more than disk trenching. The effect of different scarification methods on the long‐term production capacity of soils is discussed.