The Death of a Southern Yellow Pine

[WDH]

Loblolly to be exact.  The last two years have had two terrible spring/summer droughts.  It really took a toll this year as the stress from last year carried over into this year.  By the end of this summer, the accumulated stress so weakened many trees that they did not make it.  I had at least 50 trees that died, mostly Southern Red oaks.  In the case of Loblolly pine, the stress made the old mature trees weak and susceptible to pine beetles.  Here is a 60 year old Loblolly that was attacked by black turpentine beetles, and it did not make it.  Even without the drought, Loblolly has a lifespan, and it is shorter than many would think.  A 80 to 100 year old Loblolly is very old for the species.  Longleaf pine is more long lived than Loblolly.  Here are the pitch tubes from the beetle attack on one of the trees.  The tree tries to thwart the attack by pumping resin at the site of the attack.  These globs of hardened resin are the tell-tale sign of a pine beetle attack.

 

 

This was an exceptional forest grown Loblolly, about 22" in diameter and 100 feet tall.  It only had a small crown because of the surrounding hardwood, and that probably contributed to its demise.

 

 

Here is another shot where you can see three pines that did not make it, and get an idea of their height.

 

 

Here is another one that did not make it.

 

 

When I felled the first one, I was sure that the tractor was far enough away as it was well over 100 feet away.

 

 

Well it was, sort of  .  That dent in the fender was from another "incident" not relating to these Loblollys  .

 

 

All in all, I found five of them, all about the same size and age.  Guess what I will be sawing    .

[chain]

We are having plenty of  pre-mature deaths of our short-leafed pine and oak also. Some blame the relatively new exotics, diseases and cycles of insects. Also some suspicion and question the management of a possible limited site, and thickness of the stand as contributing to diseases.

I had commented last year of SL pine mortality in a wild 50 something yr. stand of pole sized trees begining to die off. Other older SL pine up around 80-90 seemingly still growing well in a thinned mixed oak & pine upland stand, but growing on a excellent SL pine site.

But to my dismay, here and there a large pine will die nearly every year now, why?

I've found you have to be on your toes to salvage those pines, Mother Nature does not cut much slack with dead pines as say, with WO and RO mortality. In the great blow-down near here three years past, downed oak still being salvaged this winter.

My own conclusion is that I have not thinned regularly enough nor heavily enough.

[pineywoods]

I'm seeing the same thing with loblolly here in north La. Usually they are in clumps of 4 or 5 trees and yes the beetles are there, but not that heavily infested. Mostly mature trees, but some small ones. They do make fine lumber, usually nearly dry when cut.

[fishpharmer]

WDH, great pics.  You calculated distance from the felled tree top to the tractor down to the inch.   

Chain, noticed some dead oaks around here, not too many loblolly pines.  Don't really have any shortleaf pine.

[WDH]

Chain,

They die, because, like us, they get old and become less able to handle the stresses of the environment.  The Southern Yellow Pines are "short lived" compared to many of the hardwoods.  However, a conifer, the bristlecone pine out West, is supposedly the oldest living thing at over 4000 years old.  Life span depends on the species.

In many Southern Yellow Pine stands, when they reach the age of about 45 or so, the mortality is about the same as the growth, so the stand is no longer increasing in volume or value.  That is the time to harvest and start the cycle over from a Forest Management standpoint, if that is your objective.

In the big scheme of things in nature, the dead pines have great value because of all the bugs and critters that benefit from the decomposing wood.  It is all in how you look at it and in what you value.   

James,

You are right.  I calculated that right to the inch.  It pays to be precise. 

Wayne,

There will be some very fine lumber from those trees.  The two best ones yielded 64 feet to a 10" top.  It will be a whack of board feet.  I need to alert the LT15 to the impending demand so that it can get ready  .

[Mooseherder]

Looks like you'll have enough wood for a very large project.

[SwampDonkey]

It's a lot like our balsam fir. 80-100 years is pretty much end of their life. They actually live longer and grow larger up my way than in southern NB. In the south 50-60 years is about it. But they tend to be even aged stands and once you see the signs, the whole stand of fir usually dies pretty much together. Up here the insect cycle is mainly spruce budworm. But if the budworm are not in their cycle of devastation the buts of those dying fir will be full of carpenter ants and then the pileated wood pecker makes his square holes to get at the ants. The neighbors lot had a 10 acre stand of mature fir that went down hill fast after it reached it potential. Lots of 18-20" fir all gone to the bugs and wood peckers. Fir only grows to 65-70 feet max up here. Spruce grows a lot taller.

[customsawyer]

Looks like you got your work cut out for you. I think that it will cut some good lumber.

[SwampDonkey]

I see a bigger lumber drying shed in my crystal ball. 

[Norm]

Sweet! Wish we had a decent dimensional lumber tree in our area. Too far north for those kind and too far south for the regular pines.

Any plans for the lumber?

[WDH]

Norm, a nephew is building a house.  I need twenty four 1x8x10's and six 2x8x10's to wrap his columns on his front porch.  There is a lot more volume of wood in those trees than that, so there will be a lot more.  I always need racks for air dried lumber, so some of it will go into lumber racks to hold lumber.  Kind of a circular thing, I guess  .

SD, you are right.  Why did I have this "little" shed built    .

[thecfarm]

Sorry to hear about the trees,but looked like it happened just in time. I suppose you are using the tractor to get the logs out?

[OneWithWood]

We are seeing similar efffects of the drought here in the tulip poplar and big tooth aspen.  I am currently finishing a whack of big tooth into 2x matrial and 1x6 t&g for my basement ceiling and a closet.  The tulip is next up for 1x6 t&g to be used as wall panelling.

[WDH]

Ray, I am skidding them out with the tractor in 21 foot lengths.  Punctured a hole in one front tire today on a dead hard-as-nails pine limb about 1 1/2 " in diameter.  The woods are hard on a tractor  (at least they are on mine).  Those front 4-wheel drive tractor tires are heavy when you are working alone.  Very heavy  .

Robert, the Southern Red Oak and the pines are what took it hard here.  The tulip poplar are hanging on so far.  No aspen this far south.  Even so, we are much better off than in East Texas where it is a real mess with a huge amount of drought induced mortality.  You cannot fool Mother Nature.

[Woodwalker]

Even so, we are much better off than in East Texas where it is a real mess with a huge amount of drought induced mortality.

It's depressing around here, what the drought hasn't killed the bugs will finish killing off.

[WDH]

It is a shame, too, because there is some fine pine timber in East Texas.

[SwampDonkey]

And we have had unusually wet growing seasons up here for a few years. Never seen it rain so much as it has the the last 6 or 7 years. Like 10-20 inches above the norm of around 40 inches annually. Now that norm is only based on 80 years of data. But I can remember going for two-three weeks with no rain, but we get 3 or 4 days a week of rain or showers now in the summer. Last summer was so wet that potato production was down 30 %. The river was mud red all summer. I do hate hot dry summers though, that'll take the ambition out of the most ambitious among us.

[woodtroll]

WDH
It did not look like any blue stain in the pine you cut, Do the beetles not vector it there?

[WDH]

Jeremy,

There is some blue stain, but not a whole lot yet.  These trees just recently died (last 4 - 6 weeks), and with the cooler temps, the blue stain has not got too far.  However, as you know, the beetles brought the spores in with them on their bodies, so it is there.  If I can saw them quick and get them drying, the blue stain might be minimal except in the upper logs where it is already showing.

I believe that these black turpentine beetles are overwintering in these trees.  I have had trees hit late in the year by black turpentine beetles that did not die and began growing the next spring.  In fact, they are still doing fine.  In the case of these trees, however, given their age and the accumulated stress, these beetles put them over the edge.

[pineywoods]

sawing that stuff can be a real challenge. Sawed this one yesterday, 28 inches dia. The white area is mold that had already started under the bark, which slipped off easily. This is the second cut, under every one of them bumps is a 6 inch or larger knot, hard as concrete and full of reisin. Went through 5 gallons of soapy water and 2 freshly sharpened 10 deg 30 thou set blades. Dead SYP can sometimes be hard as hickory. Got a big pile of 1X16 boards to be used as board and batten siding.