Ordered 5000 pine seedlings

[redlevel]

I ordered 5000 Longleaf pine tree seedlings this morning. I have 8-9 acres I was going to put in pasture, but I can't afford to buy cows to put on it. I told my daughter this is part of her retirement plan. . It has been difficult to find Longleaf seedlings, but maybe supply is catching up to demand. Longleaf are very disease resistant, resistant to pine beetles, and are very tolerant of fire. When the trees get about fifteen years old, they start producing a lot of straw, and there is a huge demand for Longleaf straw for landscaping. I am preparing the site by harrowing and subsoiling, and hope to start planting around December 1. The nursery guy is even going to loan me a tree planter to use behind my tractor, which will expedite the process.

 

[3dots]

May they grow faster than expected for you!!!

 

[italiansport]

Wouldn't you have been better off financially planting Christmas tree stock?
Jim

 

[rwsmith]

Company I worked for gave......

The company (a paper company) I worked for gave away zillions of 'super tree' seedlings to encourage people to plant them. Of course they also wanted to harvest them in 9-10 years.

 

[billwill]

Growing up I had to rake all the dang pine straw up before I could even cut the grass. I'm not a pine tree fan. Good luck with yours. Plant them far enough apart to drive a tractor between them.

 

[arjay]

Do you harvest these or are they grown just for the pine straw?

 

[redlevel]

I will plant in rows ten feet apart, trees spaced six feet apart in the row, for a total of about 600 trees per acre. These trees tend to get "Limby" if they have too much room, so they are planted relatively close. Planted close, they are self pruning, and they grow tall. They will probably be thinned once, maybe twice. Each thinning will provide some income, as well as the straw harvest. The payoff, though, will come 30-35 years down the road, when some good saw logs or light poles will be there.

 

[Kinman]

I know a guy that did that, he had some property on a hillside that he had logged off and didn't know what to do with it besides sell it off. Someone mentioned turning it into a tree farm with the possible tax right-offs, etc. The guy decided that was right in his wheelhouse and originally had a plan to grow Christmas trees...Real nice Christmas trees, so he planted Blue Spruce, Engleman Spruce, mixed in some Douglas Fir, etc. Twenty years later he doesn't have the heart to cut any of them down, its so beautiful. He has had some poachers over the years take a few but in the end he has a beautiful stand of timber to pass on to his kids, all of whom have had a part in raising them.

 

[tops]

I don't know the tax rules where you live but here the tax is not as high on forest land as farm land. The trees also have the advantage of never getting out of the fence and eating the neighbors garden and you never have to go out in foul weather to feed the trees. We just sold 20 acres of good oak timber but we are going to let it regenerate itself. At our age we won't live to see the pines make any money. Larry

 

[BarbC]

I once ordered 50 seedlings and brought a truck to pick them up.

I was handed a bucket full of rooted twigs.

 

[Engineer1911]

I remember we had Field Day at the school forest. Planting pine trees one time was enough.

 

[Straightshooter2]

I will plant in rows ten feet apart, trees spaced six feet apart in the row, for a total of about 600 trees per acre. These trees tend to get "Limby" if they have too much room, so they are planted relatively close. Planted close, they are self pruning, and they grow tall. They will probably be thinned once, maybe twice. Each thinning will provide some income, as well as the straw harvest. The payoff, though, will come 30-35 years down the road, when some good saw logs or light poles will be there.

Plus it will be great habitat for whitetails. Makes for some nice hunting.