Plant Pine or Natural Browse?

[Jarred525]

Hi All,

You have probably seen my other post about the logging project. On this project, I have about 8 to 10 acres on a southeast facing slope. I have a few remaining oaks scattered here and there, but not a lot. My plan is to go through and treat the stumps with herbicide. I had originally thought about letting it grow up in natural browse but now debating that.

My question is would you let it grow in natural browse or have planted in loblolly pine? I have another area of about 7 acres that is currently natural browse about 1/8 mile away that I am hoping to setup to be able to do a burn on and keep in browse so I thought Pine might be a good answer to get some variety and also maybe get some additional timber income in the future. I also thought the herbicide treatment on the stumps might be a good idea to prevent some of the competition with the pine.

Any advice is appreciated. I'll try and also take some pics.

Thanks.

 

[Boll Weevil]

One way to look at it might be to consider what part of the equation on the whole property maybe seems a little out of balance. Compare your food (ag, mast, browse, plots) to cover (security, bedding, sanctuary, or thermal). Location relative to other habitat types could be another determinant to help you decide.

While you will initially have good browse, without cyclical burning to top-kill those sprouts and knock it back to early-successional growth it's going to end up being mostly hardwood stems and not a very good food source. Another option you might consider is planting pine but with less dense spacing where you could disturb the soil periodically to revitalize browse, mow to encourage new growth, still have the option of burning, all while looking toward a little revenue from your timber somewhere down the road.

If you do choose to plant pine spraying for hardwood competition is definitely a good timber management practice.

 

[treefarmer]

I believe stump treatment must be done within 24 hours of the tree being cut, although you could use roundup on new shoots. If the slope is dry Southeast facing you may not be able to grow a quality hardwood forest but pines will thrive because they can temporarily go dormant in summer if there is no water. If it is a dry slope, pines will do fine, if it is a wet area the pines will struggle competing with fast growing hardwoods unless you use fire or herbicide.

 

[Jarred525]

The slope should be dry so I believe I would be O.K. I was hoping to get a guy to come in and plant 10 acres but he no longer does it. Does any one know someone that provides this service in the Giles County area?

I may end up hand planting on my own an acre or two of Virginia pine on one side and try to manage the rest through prescribed fire if I cant find someone to do my pine planting. I have Voice Mail into the local forestry office to see if they know anyone.

 

[treefarmer]

Your area forester is your best bet for advice on planters and if you do it - how to do it. Professionals plant a couple acres a day so you could do at least an acre a day if you have a dibble bar. Ask your Area forester for recommendations on the pines - Virginia grow slower than Loblolly and are frequently used for pulp to make paper. Loblolly can grow to timber size and Shortleaf makes good timber as well. The State nursery sells several varieties of each so ask which one is recommended.