Establishing a New Pine Plantation

[WDH]

Most trees that I have met don't seem to be in a hurry .

[Riles]

The shortleaf back up to the house, so they've been on an 80 year rotation from the start. (I figure I'll be dead in 40, so it doesn't really matter).

The neighbor introduced quail a couple years ago and we saw them as late as last summer, but the coyotes are hitting everything hard around here lately. The rabbits in particular are taking a pounding, and even the deer are AWOL.

[Rocky_Ranger]

We probably have 40,000 - 50,000 acres of plantations here on this district, 75% lob and 25% shortleaf.  The lob will outgrow anything close to it - too far north for longleaf so I don't consider that one viable.  The only thing against lob, well two; it is non-native here and the ice can take a heavy toll.  Lob will recover though and really do well.  If I was doing it for my own profit I'd plant lob.  And did in the mid-70's, have had one thinning already.  In the south strength in timber is not really a big factor, it's going to pulp and small logs first thinning, then onto SYP standards in thinning # 2 and final removals.  Our lob has a 35 year rotation with USFS, but we do go to 40 years if the stands can handle it.... Personally owned stands go for around 50 years to get some bigger logs (20"+).

[SwampDonkey]

Kinda like aspen up here, more so for large tooth. There is a stand that was cut here on the farm in 1994 and in 2007 the diameters were already 8 inches. In 50 years, they'll be huge. I have an older aspen in the back yard (trembling) and it is almost 8", but 20 years old. Quite a difference in growth, both good sites. It's not open grown because it has spruce on all sides. I have a 28 year old hybrid in the back yard that is 16 inches now.


Edit Note: I checked that hybrid with a tape and it's almost 20 inches.

[customsawyer]

Well WDH are you thinking about spraying them trees yet or did your pre treatment give you some spring control?

[WDH]

My brother and I are in the throes of rigging up a sprayer to do it ourselves.  We plan to spray 4 ounces of Arsenal and 2 ounces of Oust per gallon at a rate of 10 gallons per acre.  We hope to do the spraying in a week or so.

Jake, on the 50 acres, I have not found a single dead tree yet.  While the grass is getting boisterous, the little trees look very good.  You did a fine, a very fine job, and it shows!  Thank you for a job well done  .

Pics to follow after the spraying...

[customsawyer]

I would lean more toward 6 oz of arsenal and 2 oz of oust per acre with 10 gal of water.

[Ron Scott]

Machine Planting Red Pine. Planting a cutover area of cleared Scotch pine with the more productive red pine. Schirmer planting 4/09

A days supply of watered 2-0 red pine stock is hauled out to the planting site.

 



Trees are machine planted with a Whitfield wildland planting machine pulled by a LA 1601 Kubota Rubber tired tractor

[WDH]

Ron,

That is a nicely site-prepped cutover area.

I band sprayed my new little trees and they are doing good.  I will take a pic and update this thread.

[SwampDonkey]

We used to get 3 year old bare root pine from DNR, they were very nice trees. Came in 500 count bundles. The went mostly on old fields. We can only get 2 year old multipot grown ones now. They are very small and mostly for cutover sites which are herbicide, they are fine for old run out fields with very short herbs like strawberry and paint brush.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, the chipping crew does a good job of clearing the scotch pine and preparing the sites for machine planting. Stumps are sheared low and the grapple skidder tree lengthing over the areas smooth them out well for the rubber tired tractor. We thought that we would need to have a crawler with a "V" blade pull the tree planter, but the rubber tired Kubota handles it well.

We are cutting and clearing more areas for planting again next spring, but now the Cogen plant has cut the chips to only 5 loads a week. Due to tough access and distance my contractor can't make ends meet with that cut in quota so we are on hold untill the chip market picks up again. Maybe not until fall or winter again.

Sure can't plan or get things done in a timely manner with markets being so unpredicatable from day to day.

[Ron Scott]

Red Pine Machine Planting. The Kubota tractor makes its way through the Scotch Pine clearcut area with the planting machine. Schirmer red pine planting; 4/09.





As the trees are being machine planted, the contractor's grandson follows behind to inspect and insure that all trees planted meet our planting standard. Any improperly planted trees are then replanted by hand.

 

[Ron Scott]

Clearing Area For Planting. The unproductive Scotch pine is sheared and the trees are tree length skidded to the chipper at the landing. Schirmer planting area site preparation 6/09.





The tree length skidding has cleaned the area for the machine planting of red pine in the spring. Care is used to retain the top soil in place as much as possible.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Those darn Scots pine stems on the skidder look just as crooked as they grow up here. I think the weevils or some other insect give them a real going over to. Good riddance.

[WDH]

I band sprayed the tree rows with herbicide to manage the grass competition.

 



It was a wet spring, but this blistering heat now will test them.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, the very poor formed Scotch pine has been taking up a lot of growing space and the only market for it is in wood chips. The chip harvest has stopped for awhile now due to a cut price and quotas by the cogen plant. We hope to get as much area chipped as we can and get it back into production with the higher valued red pine.

We've had good spring rains so hopefully the spring plantings will "take off" with good survival. The areas look real good at present.

[semologger]

I planted some white pine last year around the house. Most were in the back yard seperating my 35 acre field and yard. I had 2 rows until today! My friends are cutting hay and his cutter on the tractor wiped out one row of around 20 trees. . He is a retired forester to beat all. I just laughed about it and gave him a hard time. Looks like i will be planting again. I think this time i will plant  oak that grows fairly fast. I lost alot i planted. To bad thorn trees dont make good border trees. They are taking over areas that havent been brush hogged. I was meaning to mow a good line so he could see the trees but didnt get the chance.

[Ron Scott]

Too bad on the years growth lose. New plantings should be well marked and signed where there is potential for them to be damaged as such. Also makes it easier to collect replacement costs.

[nmurph]

WHD,
while you are toward the upper end of the LL range, you can certainly plant them in Perry. i know you have already put lobs in the ground, and while they come out like gangbusters, they are not as marketable as saw timber. LL is the most desirable for saw. Lobs do get to the first thinning sooner, but there is little real value to that, as pulp prices are in the dumps. besides the superior value of LL at the mill, it also generates top dollar in straw production.
just something to think about if you have more plantation land you are putting into trees.

[WDH]

Thanks nmurph.  I considered longleaf, but they do not do so well on this red clay compacted old pastureland.  I would love to have some as they are really grand trees.  Loblolly will do better on this site over the life of the investment.  For poles, the best product in terms of stumpage return, longleaf is unparalled like you point out.