Larry {the} Gardener
Well-Known Member
If it was Longleaf Pines, you would have to worry about them being burned. But that is done before now, and they are Slash Pines. They might get mowed, but the folks who own the land don't have a tractor up here. They would ask me to mow it, or borrow my tractor. This is a small plot that belongs to an out-of-town cousin. The trees are too small to really grow in, but they are good for my holding ground. Planted pines have a few years between when they are tall enough {or there is weeds tall enough} to hide your plants, and when they are old enough to sell the pinestraw that is great for growing. Then again after they have been thinned. My AL, HR and BP patches are in older thinned pines. Generally speaking, when you thin pines, you cut 3/4 of them. That is clear cutting every other row, and half of the ones in the row you leave. If you are brave, you can grow in the clear cut row for more sun. I choose to grow in the thinned rows, just looking for sunny spots.
There are some tracts of trees here that are several thousand acres. When I was younger I grew on nothing by timber company land, but now they lease the land to hunt clubs. Some still grow on that kind of land, but I don't want any traffic where I'm growing.
I try to pick safe places judging from past land use. But like the CP holes this year, sometimes things change and you have to abandon a patch. I'm just glad I didn't have plants in it.
