Planting a Small Southern Woodland 



217 



as white oak, yellow-poplar, and ash, 

 which are frequently used in plantings. 

 Trampling by cattle packs clay soils 

 and makes both seedling survival and 

 growth difficult. Cattle often ride down 

 young trees to graze on them or brush 

 off the flies. Light grazing by cattle in 

 pine stands may not do great harm, 

 but it will not help the plantation. 

 Sheep seriously interfere with the 

 growth of young longleaf seedlings by 

 nipping the buds. Hogs will destroy a 

 plantation of longleaf by grazing the 

 roots. The plantation should be pro- 

 tected, as necessary, from livestock by 

 fencing. 



Planted trees are susceptible to the 

 same diseases and attacks by insects as 

 are trees in natural stands of the same 

 species. Longleaf pine that is held back 

 from making height growth by brown 

 spot may be released by careful burn- 

 ing. The flames check the spread of the 

 disease for a year or two, allowing the 

 longleaf pine to make height growth 

 and get above the zone of dangerous 

 infection. Loblolly pine and slash pine 

 are especially susceptible to stem can- 

 ker. Careful culling of seedlings at the 

 nurseries has greatly reduced the 

 chances that the planter will receive 

 infected trees. However, infection may 

 occur on the growing tips of trees of 

 any size when the pollen is flying in 

 the spring. About the only known prac- 

 tical remedy in planted stands is to 

 thin out the infected trees. They are 

 easily recognized by the masses of 

 orange spots in the spring and by the 

 swollen, distorted trunk and limbs. 

 Thinning is usually delayed until the 

 cut products may be used on the place 

 or sold. Hardwood trees are subject to 

 various rots which enter from an in- 

 jury, as from fire or logging damage. 

 Diseased trees should be removed. 



Pine plantations suffer somewhat 

 from insect attacks. Occasionally these 

 are serious, but, over the South as a 

 whole, insects do relatively little dam- 

 age to plantations. This is probably be- 

 cause the trees in plantations are usu- 

 ally well spaced, affording each room 

 for healthy development. 



Some loss to plantations results from 

 the southern pine beetles. Losses oc- 

 cur when the trees are severely injured 

 as by lightning, fire, or extended dry 

 weather. Pink pitch tubes building up 

 on the bark, small black beetles work- 

 ing in the cambium layer just under 

 the bark, and yellowing or browning 

 needles in the dying trees give warn- 

 ing of the presence of the southern 

 pine beetle. The remedy is to remove 

 and utilize or burn the trees that show 

 evidence of beetle activity. Rain in 

 normal quantity will restore the ability 

 of the trees to drown out the insects 

 with resin if the insect damage has not 

 progressed too far. It also serves to 

 check the spread of infestations. 



The LeConte sawfly sometimes strips 

 needles from the young pines. Dam- 

 age is especially severe in southern 

 Arkansas and northern Louisiana, 

 where shortleaf trees may be held back 

 for several years. Many trees are killed. 

 The tip moth (Rhyacionia frustrates) 

 damages both shortleaf and loblolly 

 by tunnelling in and killing the young, 

 tender growing tips. 



It is hardly practical to attempt to 

 kill the insects in small plantations. 

 DDT would probably prove effective 

 if it could be applied economically. 

 The extent and severity of attacks vary 

 from year to year, and in time the 

 stands grow to a height ( usually about 

 7 feet) above which injury from either 

 insect is of little consequence. 



Planters attempt to minimize the 

 possibility of loss by using two or more 

 species. The severity of attack usually 

 varies with different species and hence 

 two species assure a better chance of 

 success. Close spacing allows for some 

 loss of trees. 



PLANTINGS BY THE SMALL OWNERS 

 have been fairly successful despite nat- 

 ural hazards and normal run of human 

 failings. Coulter, who kept careful 

 records for 15 years on plantings with 

 seedlings from the Florida State Nurs- 

 ery, reports 80 percent of all plant- 

 ings successful. Other State foresters 

 throughout the country report success 



