Planting Pines

[Tama lakes]

Hello my name is Alex I live in central Georgia and my family owns around 170 acres. Most of the land has mature pine and hardwoods but there is one field that is cleared that measures about five acres. My grandfather wants to plant pine trees. My question is will five acres of planted pines turn a profit. I am going to contact the Georgia Forestry commission and ask one of the foresters to come out but I would like some opinions/ suggestions on something else to plant.   

[Ocklawahaboy]

5 acres, get the dibble out and plant it the cheap way.  During an interruption in employment I did some of that.

[Phorester]

Hello my name is Alex I live in central Georgia and my family owns around 170 acres. Most of the land has mature pine and hardwoods but there is one field that is cleared that measures about five acres. My grandfather wants to plant pine trees. My question is will five acres of planted pines turn a profit. I am going to contact the Georgia Forestry commission and ask one of the foresters to come out but I would like some opinions/ suggestions on something else to plant.

First, determine the soil type you have in the field you want to plant. Soil type is the driving force behind good tree growth and health, and needs to be considered first in choosing tree species to plant. Your Georgia forester will have, or can get, this information for you or tell you where to get it.

5 acres will get you a profit, just will take at least 15 - 20 years for pine.  More productive soils will get you bigger trees in shorter time frames, if they are suitable for that particular soil.

[timberking]

I agree, get the dibble out and get them in the ground yourself or better yet get your kids and other family members to join in.  Just the right size to knock out in a good outing and create memories and a greater appreciation for the whole process.  Sweat equity will do that.  Since you have the other acreage, you can incorporate the thinings with other harvests.  By itself, 5 acres is marginal for management.

[Texas Ranger]

and probably should not plant the 5, but come inside the tree line a good ways to reduce the competition to the new seedlings.

[Bilge Rat]

They may have a transplanter that you can rent  if you have a tractor and a second person.

You might consider planting some oaks, dogwoods and bicolor lespediza to break up the pines.
Wildlife plantings will help critters and combined with the oaks increase the land value should you ever sell it.

The wife and i have planted over 20K trees  over the years. It is rewarding to walk thru trees that you planted years ago.

[WDH]

In conjunction with the larger stands of timber, you can successfully manage the 5 acres of pine.  If it was 5 acres standing alone, it would be harder to get it commercially harvested by itself. 

Where in Central GA are you?