Long Leaf Pine

[dannyray]

Anyone have information on Long Leaf Pine?

Had timber damage on my Warren County land a few months back due to the tornado. The loggers have come in and got out what they could, so now I have some clear cut areas within my mix pine/hardwood forest. So I was thinking about just letting nature take her course with natural regeneration(I would help a bit by trying to control sweetgums).

But now I here about this USDA CRP Long leaf Pine Initiative and I am thinking about getting involved as it would add a bit of diversity to my woodlands and also a bit of financial benefit would be realized by the incentive pay from the government.

Any ideas? Let nature take her course? Plant the Long leaf?

 

[Hogguide]

Plant the longleaf. We are cutting a bunch of Pine beetle damaged trees and will be planting the Longleaf back as soon as they are thru cutting.
HG

 

[dannyray]

Hogguide,

Are you getting involved with CP 36 the CRP Long Leaf Pine Initiative?

 

[Death_From_Above]

If you are eligible for CRP then do it! The only drawback is that they restrict your time of harvest to some degree.

Pros... Longleaf pine are more disease, fire, and pest resistant. They grow better products. If you are in a pole market they grow great poles. They are more aesthetically pleasing to most.

Cons... they are harder to get established. They have a grass stage for the first 4-6 years where they will not put on any height growth. Once they start, however, they will just about catch up to a loblolly at the same age. Seedlings are more expensive.

Longleaf pines are native to the southeast. They thrive on hilltops and sandy soils. They do not fair well in low moist areas.

My advice would be to consult with a local forester who has seen your place. If I can help you out more send me a pm.

 

[PlumbDent2]

Definitely consult your local forester. The long leaf pines don't grow in some areas of the state. We planted some 2 years ago without properly controlling the thistle in the fields and lost all the pines. We will be replanting this winter after a long summer of weed control.

 

[Vernon Holt]

Longleaf Pint

"We planted some 2 years ago without properly controlling the thistle in the fields and lost all the pines. We will be replanting this winter after a long summer of weed control".

The only way one could possibly "loose all of the pines" would be for the seedlings to be improperly handled at some point between the nursery and the planting site.

If seedlings are poorly packed and allowed to dry out they are dead already even though they are still green in color. If they get overheated by lying in the sun or if stacked too closely they will deteriorate rapidly. They often dry out riding on planting machines.

No way you could have a total failure from weed competition, or even from severe drought.

 

[gadeerwoman]

Long leaf pines like sandier soils as opposed to red clay soils. I tried them several times at my place and never got any that made it in that red Georgia clay.

 

[GRE1]

longleaf

I'm in the same boat, lost about 65 acres of 22 yr old Slash. As my property is already considered timberland, i do not qualify for the crp initiative. It is an awesome program if you can get in it. If you qualify, i would make sure they would allow you to plant at least 600 trees per acre in order to allow for mortality. If you don't qualify, or they won't let you plant that many trees, try Slash. There will be little or no timber value difference in 30 yrs., and Slash pinestraw is bringing strong money on today's market. If i re-plant pines, it will be Slash. However, I'm looking hard at converting that timberland into hay production.

 

[Dupree]

longleaf pine, (pinus palustris),will only be in the grass stage for a couple years, then it will enter what is known as the rocket stage where it will put on a high rate of growth (this is the only stage of longleaf that is not fire resistant.)There are two different varieties though. One variety is the one that grows in the deep sands of south ga. and the other is what is called mountain longleaf, and it prefers rocky soil. Paulding Forest and Sheffield have them, as well as pine mountain. I dont think that either variety is well suited for warren county, so your best bet would probably be a high quality seedling source of loblolly that is fusiform rust resistant. I just graduated with a forestry degree, and my best advice would be to find a consulting forester to help you out and make the right decision based on your long term goals for the property.

 

[Son]

Long leaf pine

My experience. And I did such a good job too many trees survived per acre.
Make sure the planter doesn't "J" root when planting.
Kill all bermuda grass before planting and don't let it come back.
Burn when recommended.
So a search on your computer for Long Leaf Pines.

 

[Vernon Holt]

There is one species of Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris).

While the tree is normally associated with deep, excessively drained soils (sand hills) where it ocurs as part of the community of scrub oaks and gopher tortoises, this in no way implies that the tree is limited to these soils exclusively.

The fact is that Longleaf Pine is one of our more adaptive tree species. Historically, the entire Coastal Plain (upper and lower) of the Southeastern USA contained millions of acres of pure stands of Longleaf.

It was found growing on soils that varied from wet heavy clay (Gumbo Clay) to flatwood soils with Wiregrass cover, and including the deep sands of the "sand hills".

It is surprising that the range of Longleaf does extend well into North GA in a narrow strip that extends from Lagrange up and along the AL line to Rome Ga. This is not a separate sub-species, but rather is simply an isolated plant community of its own. Longleaf reaching into N. GA compares favorably with there being a pocket of American Chestnut found growing at Pine Mountain, GA.

There is no set time period for Longleaf remaining in the "grass stage". Seedling have been known to remain in this dormant stage in a range of from three to 7 years. Seedlings that are planted will often commence height growth without any "grass stage" at all.

It is a safe bet to plant Longleaf in any area that fell within the natural range of this tree. Any old timer living in the area can tell you if Longleaf once grew in a given locale.

 

[Nicodemus]

I planted a small stand of longleaf seedlings in the back of my pasture 7 years ago. They are now pushin` 15 feet in height. My soil is a clay loam mix, and I wasn`t sure how they would fare, but they have done well.

I would have loved to have been able to see those stands you are talkin` about Mr. Vernon.

 

[lakelbr]

Best forester, in my opinion in our area, is Jim Alfriend. Phone # 706-595-2210

 

[dannyray]

Thank you all very much for all of the information. Unfortunatley I found that I am not qualified for CP36 Long Leaf Pine Initiative as the land in question was not agricultural cropland for the last so many years.
So I believe I will let nature take her course and provide me with a couple of large natural foodplots for the next 5-7 years. Going to get in there and control the sweetgum regeneration (do not like those sweetgums!!). Might have GFC come in and do some heavy harrow work around the clearcuts and thinking about burning to aid in decomposition and get some soil disturbance going. Should provide excellent browse and nesting habitat for a number of years.
Thanks again fo the input.

 

[B. White]

I planted a small stand of longleaf seedlings in the back of my pasture 7 years ago. They are now pushin` 15 feet in height. My soil is a clay loam mix, and I wasn`t sure how they would fare, but they have done well.

I would have loved to have been able to see those stands you are talkin` about Mr. Vernon.

What kind of growth have you seen since this thread? I planted some last weekend I had forgotten I ordered from the forestry service. I hope to get a fair survival rate with this rain.

 

[Nicodemus]

What kind of growth have you seen since this thread? I planted some last weekend I had forgotten I ordered from the forestry service. I hope to get a fair survival rate with this rain.

Oh wow. Saw your post and had to step out and look. My trees are now between 40 and 45 feet tall now. I`ve lost a couple for various reasons, but overall they are doing well. Hope yours do as well.

 

[B. White]

That is good to hear. My wife kept asking how fast they would grow and it sounds like it varies a lot with the grass stage Mr. Holt referenced above.