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white pine blister rust what should I do

Started by JimMartin9999, June 19, 2010, 07:03:31 PM

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JimMartin9999

Two summers ago I cut down every third row of plantation white pine.  Many of them had been weeviled and many  had blister rust.  I did not cut down many in the adjacent rows although many pines there  were affected by the weeviling and blister rust.  My hope was to strengthen the remaining stand and  expect the open rows to encourage hardwood regeneration.   The stand is in south central NY.
My question now is whether I should cut down more of the weeviled and blistered pines. I left the felled trees on the ground to discourage deer.  The pines were planted in 1980.
Jim

Tarm

You didn"t state the spacing in your plantation but I think you have done enough row thinning. At 30 years old your trees must be 30-40 feet tall? Are there any stems that are straight to 17 feet? You only need about 100 trees per acre (about 20 feet apart)to fully utilize the site if one grows the pine to large (24") size. If you have at least 40 crop trees per acre (about 33 feet apart) I would continue to manage the stand for white pine. Blistered trees do not recover so I would thin out as many as you can without risking windthrow in the rest of the stand. Best to cut no more than half every ten years and you have all ready cut one third. Pick out the best stems and prune them up to 9 feet. Do up to 100 an acre. Later as the trees mature continue pruning up to 17 feet. Corrective pruning can sometimes salvage a tree trunk for future sawlogs. I would take a good look around and get rid of any ribes in the area. White pine can be a labor of love but to me it is worth it.

Ron Scott

Ditto! to the above prescription. You may also want to allow the site to regenerate to hardwoods as you salvage the best remaining white pine as Tarm states. It's hard to manage for any quality white pine once they have been infected by the blister rust.

Also retain any overstory hardwood on the site as a cover crop for the white pine if that situation exists. Any hardwood overstory above the white pine will hinder the blister rust infection.
~Ron

JimMartin9999

Tarm, Ron,  Thanks for your comments.
My guess --I won´t be near the land  till July--is that I have about 300 to 400 left, maybe half have beetle or blister damage.  I took out every third row three years ago so using the ten year prescription I have to wait about  seven years to start cutting the blistered ones which you say never recover.
I haven´t noticed any windthrow.  I was thinking that I would like to get rid of all of the trees which have no future and free up the space for hardwoods, which come in naturally in South Central upstate NY.
Does pruning up to 9 feet slow or stop the blister rust?
I find it interesting that there is no pine regeneration, just a bit of ash waiting for the EAB , some red maple, a  few red oak, aspen.  I planted some seedlings and a few hundred seed( red oak, bass, walnut, cherry).
Jim

Tarm

Wow! You have 150 possible crop trees per acre, more than enough. To be safe from wind throw one should not cut down more than 50% of the trees at one time. You have already cut down 33% so there are about 17% or 1 in 6 more you could do. Find your crop trees. One hundred crop trees per acre is plenty. Pick ones at least fifteen feet apart if possible. Choose straight, or very minor crooked stems free of blisters and prune to nine feet. Most blister rust starts on needles in the lower nine feet of the tree. If your crowns have already receded higher than that you can prune higher. Do not prune more than one third of the live branches. Once you have located your crop trees you can use your remaining thinning "quota" to cut down (thin) some bad tree(s) next to your crop trees. Leave the rest of the stand for wind protection. As the trees grow taller you can continue to prune the stems up to 17 feet. This would get you one 16 foot clear veneer log from each tree. Keep thinning around the crop trees as each decade passes. The ultimate goal is to have a small number of very high quality, fast growing white pines spaced widely apart with hardwood regeneration comming in underneath.

SwampDonkey

I might add that hardwood can grow fairly fast in height and that once pine reaches pole stage and is heavily shaded it will decline in vigour. Height above 30 feet keeps the weevils a bay for the most part. Partial shading of white pine is best when they are young as they are intermediate in tolerance to shade until pole stage. Pruning as suggested discourages the rust, because they mostly infect needles and take 2 or 3 years to migrate to the main stem. I wish you luck if your going to pull ribies. It's like raspberry, pull one and you have 5 more in 3 weeks off the root. ;) The blister rust does not spread from pine to pine, has to go to a ribies and produce another form of spore to infect the pine.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

JimMartin9999

Tarm
Sorry, I don´t know what is meant by the expression, "If your crowns have already receded higher than that..."
Jim

Tarm

The base of the live crown is where the live branches stop and the dead ones start. As trees grow their branches spread out and shade the lower branches. (If the trees were planted close together). These lower branches will die and in white pine will remain a dead limb. As the bottom of the live crown moves up the tree it "recedes" from the forest floor into the canopy. If your trees already have 17 feet of stem with dead branches there is no point in waiting to prune them. Do the entire tree trunk to 17 feet at one time. 

I don't pull the ribes, I spray them with Roundup. Gets the roots and all.

Don't let the hardwoods shade your pine crop trees. Thin them out too if needed.

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