Pine Planting

Looking for some insight in planting in pine rows. What to plant and when. I know lime is going to be #1. Would like to have year round food plots for the deer. Going to have 2-3 food plots in 100 acres. One plot will be 120-30 long by 20-30 yards wide and the other will be a little smaller. Thanks

pines dont like lime............they like it acidic.......

If you are in union I would plant Longleafs...

Union County is in the piedmont and most conducive for loblolly. Longleafs are a better wildlife tree, but do best in the sandier, well drained soils of the coastal plain, and even then only expect 50% survival. Plant them NOW, ASAP. I just planted about 800 lobs near Clarkton NC weekend before last. I got a bunch more to plant if this danged weather will ever give me a break on the weekends.

Am I missing something or is SM270 asking about planting food plots in the rows between pine trees? If I am reading this correctly that will be about 1.5-2 acres of food plots in a 100 acre pine plantation. This situation could result in heavy browsing pressure and may limit the longevity of perennial plots. A rotation of warm season annual and cool season annual mixes might be a good choice, with more emphasis on cool season time period. A mixture of wheat, rye grain and a clover might be effective and fairly easy to "throw and grow". Definitely take soil samples to determine what soil amendment is needed. Success will come down to how tall surrounding trees are. If a young plantation with plenty of sunlight it should work. If older taller trees then plots will produce less food plot vegetation.

SM270, do you own the property? If so more benefit can be had with modified forest management than planting food plots.

As far as longleaf goes, with proper site preparation, quality containerized seedlings and proper planting expect well more than 50% survival. They will grow across much of the southern Piedmont and were historically native at least as far west as Anson, Stanly, Davidson and Randolph Counties.

If it's your land, be sure to plant trees accordingly to allow plenty of sunlight, as para4514 stated.

I know you want a return on your investment (hence pines) if you own the land, but if you can afford it, "donate" a portion of the acreage to plain old nasty natural regeneration as a sanctuary rather than planting every piece of the land to pines and plots. Cover and fawning area is crucial and nothing beats the first ten years of regrowing cutover.

You can then mow down strips of this cutover as it gets gnarly so you have uneven ages of regeneration. This will allow the sanctuary to maintain itself as a cover sanctuary and fawning area.

Also, part of your food plots...preferably the edge and a swipe in the middle...leave it to grow weeds and tall cover so they feel safe chowing in the day time. You may not have enough area in your plots to do this, however. Cover and natural forage near a food plot is crucial. Many have seen game camera pics of bucks passing through a food plot to browse the greenbriar on its edge. LOL.

I have a friend and guide who manages and guides on thousands of acres. His food plots are almost equally ratioed with cover and forage.

Sorry should have said food plot in the pine rows

How old are the pines ? Some timber companies use herbicide that lasts a few years when they plant smaller pines so food plots can't take off.

These are pretty old. They did a 3rd row cut about 5-6 years ago. Just trying to help the herd all we can.

If you cut close to a row of those pines with a disc, you're gonna kill or damage them so that it's very obvious to the land owner. Plan to clear wider than you need, and plant at least a disc width from the edge of the pines. Nothing ticks a timber owner off worse than having trees that are damaged and susceptible to insects and disease.
Long, skinny plots are great attractants, and make for good stand locations as well since you can typically place two or more stands for a good wind direction choice. Oats, rye and wheat make good first plantings, and keep the clearings open to plant perennials in the future. You can always plant patches of things that you want to try in each plot, some plots will just grow some plants better than others.

There is a very high likelihood that the ph will be very low to start with. I wouldn't be surprised if your soil test (do one) shows in the 4.5 range or even lower. Pines leach the soil & actually make it acidic. Lime (lots of it) will likely be necessary to grow a really good food plot....but, lime takes time. Sometimes a full year. In the short term, I would recommend planting a cool season cereal grain like oats or winter rye, or even winter wheat, until the lime has done it's job. Retest the soil in 6 months & see where it is, & add more lime (will be a constant process if planting among pines). Once you get your ph to 6.0 you can expect to have better looking plots....6.5-7 is ideal, but some soils will have a hard time ever reaching that. Depending on the soil type, if you then plant a good quality food plot seed & fertilize adequately you should have very healthy plots. With pines in particular, plots can be helpful to direct deer traffic. Deer tend to spread out in pines & it can be hard to hunt them because their movement isn't funneled anywhere. I like to use plots to create inside or outside corners. Deer will usually walk the entire length of the plot when done this way, regardless of where they enter the plot.

crimson clover and rye or oats..... we planted one in a strip of loblolly pines down in Scotland county
The club master planted a nice strip of oats in another plot in loblolly pines as well

my bad on the food plot ..thought you meant planting pines.

even if you decide to plant pines , Longleafs do well in some piedmont soils. some just planted at Jordan by the ACOE ...union is just out of the range in NC but Longleafs grow fine in some upper piedmont areas of Georgia and Alabama that are not sandy . They do well there on dry ridges that are not sandy. http://d13859430.u31.c8.ixinstant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/lit_map_website_full_range.jpg

Longleafs on dry ridgetops , there is even a park called Mountain Longleaf http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1407

Mack in N.C. said:

my bad on the food plot ..thought you meant planting pines.

even if you decide to plant pines , Longleafs do well in some piedmont soils. some just planted at Jordan by the ACOE ...union is just out of the range in NC but Longleafs grow fine in some upper piedmont areas of Georgia and Alabama that are not sandy . They do well there on dry ridges that are not sandy. http://d13859430.u31.c8.ixinstant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/lit_map_website_full_range.jpg

Longleafs on dry ridgetops , there is even a park called Mountain Longleaf http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1407

Click to expand...

I saw a few acre patch of longleaf in polk county well outside of the native range, and at 50 years old they looked as good as any longleaf in the state. Growing on sandy clay loam soils. As long as you can keep the ice away and the competition down, they'll grow.

I know we are talking about food plots now, but let me pipe on on Long Leaf. I plant many long leaf pines every year and have done so for about 25 years, on personal tracts and on tracts my land owners own. I have planted them from Bladen County, which is ideal, to Hyde County, which was supposed to be too wet, to Alleghany County, which is obviously out of their normal range. They have thrived EVERYWHERE. In fact, some of the biggest I have seen are in my neighborhood in Raleigh, on pure rocky red clay. You have to understand the life cycle of a Long Leaf to understand they do not grow as consistently quick as a loblolly but at the end of 50 years, they generally catch up close to the same size as a loblolly. Great tree, excellent pinestraw income and great for wildlife and timber even though I would not cut one.

I have used turnips and clover with reasonable success in the situation you describe. Hard to get grains or beans to grow without full sun.