Tag Archives: Pinus palustris

Planted Longleaf, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 April 2012

These are the same longleaf planted in 2008, blogged 10 October 2010, burned a second time 16 December 2011, and greening and candling again February 2012.

Pictures of Gretchen Quarterman with the planted longleaf (Pinus palustris)
by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 April 2012.

Almost all of them survived the prescribed burn, and many of them are quite tall. The planted little bluestem and big bluestem are also thriving, along with native verbena, and some less savory invasive exotics, including trash along the road. Plus Gretchen’s favorite: dog fennel! And along the fence row cedars, pecans, plums, grapes, wild cherry, and a gopher tortoise. Here’s a flickr slideshow:

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Longleaf candling at the pond, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 April 2012

We didn’t know there were any longleaf at the bottom of the pond, but the white candles are unmistakable:

Pictures of Longleaf pine (Pinus Palustris) by Gretchen Quarterman
for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 April 2012.

The needles are also longer than on the nearby slash pines:

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Old Road

This is a road, at least a hundred years old, after a prescribed burn:



John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman,
Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 March 2012.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman

Those are mostly slash pines (Pinus elliottii), with one or two longleaf and some oaks.

-jsq

 

 

Snake in the oak leaves

Yellow Dog and Brown Dog pointing:


Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms.

Can you see it there, between the wiregrass and the oak log?

 

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Greening and candling burned longleaf

Back in December we burned some planted longleaf. Six weeks later, they’re greening up and candling. I couldn’t find a single longleaf that didn’t survive. Even ones that a few weeks ago you would have thought were burnt sticks now have green leaves or white candles or both.

Here’s a slideshow.


Longleaf greening after fire, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman 29 February 2012.

-jsq

Longleaf sprouts

Found in the gutter:


Picture of Gretchen Quarterman holding longleaf sprouts at Okra Paradise Farms
by John S. Quarterman, 19 December 2011.

I found them in the gutter while cleaning oak leaves out of it. Longleaf seeds had sprouted in that wet place. Gretchen stuck them in some dirt in these seedling containers. In a week or so we’ll need to transplant them into something bigger. Their taproots are already almost as deep as these boxes.

We’re also finding quite a few fresh longleaf sprouts in the ground, so apparently we got a pretty good seedfall this year.

-jsq

Burning planted longleaf, 16 December 2011

We planted these longleaf three years ago, in 31 January 2009: 12,000 trees we dibbled in by hand. Not even three years old and some of them are 12 feet tall! Every few years they need burning to reduce the weeds like dog fennel and to encourage the native warm season grasses (NWSG). The NWSG burn well: low to the ground, moving right along. The dog fennel not so much, but they do sometimes flare up and make a good show, like this:


Burning planted longleaf, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman, 16 December 2011.

The longleaf themselves are the most fire-resistant of trees. Almost all of these longleaf will survive the fire and thrive. The volunteer loblolly and slash, not so much, and any oaks or other trees even less, so fire favors the longleaf. We had perfect burning conditions: 5-8 MPH wind from the northwest, blowing towards the road.

Some of the subdivision neighbors who are not familiar with prescribed burns called the county fire department. They came out, took one look at the firebreak, and filed a report saying all was OK.

Here’s how the fire got started. Some pyromaniac dribbling fire….

Here’s a slideshow and a playlist of some videos. Continue reading →