5 year old pines

[Longhorn 16]

Looking for recommendations to keeping the understory clear. They are row planted with about 8-10 feet between the rows.

 

[Bigearl68]

Fire

 

[Milkman]

Fire

Is controlled burn safe for 5 year old pines ?

 

[roscoe54]

Mow between the rows on my 2 year old loblolly pines. I have 10 acres of long leaf I started burning them at 3 years old, If you have long leaf you be ok to burn them. Call the Foresty dept they will come out and tell you what you need to do.

 

[Lilly001]

My buddy just bought 45 acres of loblolly pine about head high.
He is buying a walk behind brush mower ( he is young) to keep the understory down to promote wildlife food and hunt ability.
I really interested in how it works out. The rows are a little tight in some areas to get my 6’ bush hog and tractor( JD 65 hp) in.
When I get my little 32 hp Kubota and it’s 5’ bush hog up here it should make a lot of it tractor mowable until the branches get to long.

 

[rstallings1979]

Looking for recommendations to keeping the understory clear. They are row planted with about 8-10 feet between the rows.

What are the diameters and height of the trees? Is it slash or loblolly? If more than 3-4 inches I suspect a low intensity back fire will be fine up until the end of February or March if your just looking at cleaning out the understory. I would catch a day where temps are low, wind is mild as well, and do a late start where humidity is rising. You can also get a recommendation from the GFC forester for that county. Of course you will need firebreaks so you may have to wait depending on when you can get someone out there. Skid Steer mulching will run $150 an hour I bet but that is an option for a really thick track at that age.

I am dealing with the same thing on a tract I purchased in 2021. 40 acres of planted pines on the track are packed with volunteer and a very thick understory. I did a late day low intensity burn and I think I got very little mortality on the trees. Trees are about 10 years old. I was hoping for 30 percent mortality at least to help give the others a boost but I would be shocked if I get 10 percent. I suspect my next move is a pre commercial thin on the trees.

 

[deers2ward]

Is controlled burn safe for 5 year old pines ?

Ive got a 5 yr old stand.....forester said I could burn it, but would have to be a very cold day so the heat could get out relatively quickly. But he said the safest best is to just wait until after the first thinning

 

[mattb78]

A brushmower would be about your only choice until the trees gets taller and you could run a tractor and bushhog through there. Young pine stands are no fun to manage.