pine trees

[hurleyjd]

Jogeephus several days ago you posted about carbon credits and pine trees. Do you have any idea what the cost to plant an acre of pine trees where pasture was and how would you do it.

 

[Jogeephus]

Here a turn key job without any bells or whistles or government help would be no more than $70/acre.

How I do it. I use heavy planters that you pull with a tractor. Each planter weighs around 2500 lbs and will subsoil, scalp and plant the tree in one pass. If you didn't have access to this type equipment and it was in a pasture you might want to first check for a hard pan and if present pull a subsoil shank threw the field every 12 foot to break the pan then come in behind this and plant the trees just to the edge of the furrow. This can be done by hand or with a machine.

 

[papavillars]

You order the trees in October ( $ 125.00 a thousand) . Pick them up in January and plant immediately. They sell a hand digger that you step on and open a small trench, then close hole quickly. My brother , his son and I put in a thousand in under a day. Now these are seedlings and three years later half have died but the rest are between five and six feet tall. Two years of drought sure played heck with them.

 

[Jogeephus]

I can get trees much cheaper than that through our forestry commission but I won't plant theirs because I don't like their genetics. I buy from a private nursery and they cost around $48/1000. I set a fair amount of acres each year and average 90% survival as long as I can do it the way I want to rather than being told how to do it by the government. There is a big difference in survival using a hand setting and machine setting. Hand setting averages only about 75% survival so stocking should be increased to compensate.

Here is a clearcut I reforested a few years ago.



The orange thing on the back of the tractor is one of my planters. They do a great job and are near about idiot proof as long as the person in the planter can remember green side up.



As said, they are very heavy and you can see just how heavy they are by the stump in this photo. The coulter and foot just split the stump right in two and still set the tree properly just a few inches behind the stump without missing a beat.

 

[dun]

You order the trees in October ( $ 125.00 a thousand) . Pick them up in January and plant immediately. They sell a hand digger that you step on and open a small trench, then close hole quickly. My brother , his son and I put in a thousand in under a day. Now these are seedlings and three years later half have died but the rest are between five and six feet tall. Two years of drought sure played heck with them.

For us about the time they get a couple of feet tall the deer rub the snot out of them and kill most of them.

 

[M5farm]

That planter is fancy jo. The one I used to ride didn't have a cage around it and you played hell if you were planting in rough cut with hardwoods in it. One of them limbs would slap you on the ear that was about to freeze off in January or February.

 

[Jogeephus]

I started out with a dibble then moved to kissing my knees on a light planter and getting jabbed, hit, knocked off and all sorts of things so I went with something that was safer when I got to the point where I asked someone else to ride the planter. I wouldn't dare get on another knee kisser and wouldn't ask someone else to either. They can be dangerous. You are pretty safe inside the box and there are cushions all around you. Still could be hurt but its highly unlikely.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I can remember when we had that kind of site prep for hand planting. Don't see as much good prep for hand planting anymore. Pape that dibble bar is just a toture divice for Mexicans. Hoedad is much nicer to work with.

 

[kenny thomas]

hurleyjd, in some areas the timber companys help with the planting to hopefully get a chance to bid on the tract later. The state also rents the planting machines in some areas. Cost is stll minimal and there is several cost share options.

 

[Jogeephus]

Stone Container would give you the trees for last right of refusal on your timber. Just let the competition know someone has last right of refusal and see what happens to the bidding process. I'd stay clear of the cost share programs. When its all said and done its not worth the trouble and it will ultimately cost you a lot more money and you have to claim their help as income.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

In Hurleys part of the country I would try to rip in the spring before planting in the fall if I was going to hand plant.

 

[skyhightree1]

we just had some of our clearcuts planted about a month ago no machines all manual labor.

 

[Ryder]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

 

[hurleyjd]

Thanks to all for the input. Pines may be something for me to look at. I want to keep the land but quit the cow business. Also pines naturally did not grow on any of the land in the past. I am in the post oak Savannah area of Texas. Have a lot of huckleberry knolls and a lot of post oak flats. Think I will visit with the A & M forestry personnel in Gilmer for some consulting. Also any thoughts on planting hardwoods.

 

[ga.prime]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

Great opportunity to cash in on "sustainably harvested blue stain beetle-kill pine boards".

 

[skyhightree1]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

we have several pieces of land that all we do is plant pines and when ready to cut cut and replant and to not loose your arse... I would suggest Standing Timber Insurance thats what we do. :2cents:

 

[kenny thomas]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

we have several pieces of land that all we do is plant pines and when ready to cut cut and replant and to not loose your arse... I would suggest Standing Timber Insurance thats what we do. :2cents:

Sky, which company offers timber insurance. I have had a couple landowners asking about it. What kinds of things do they cover. Storms, fire, bugs?

 

[skyhightree1]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

we have several pieces of land that all we do is plant pines and when ready to cut cut and replant and to not loose your arse... I would suggest Standing Timber Insurance thats what we do. :2cents:

Sky, which company offers timber insurance. I have had a couple landowners asking about it. What kinds of things do they cover. Storms, fire, bugs?

http://www.davisgarvin.com/timber.htm
If you need some additional info I can send you some by pm or email
on another note sure is good to have you posting again regularly

 

[Ryder]

Some people around here were counting on pretty good retirement money from their pine trees.
Then the pine beetles decided to eat them.
:bang: :bang: :bang:

we have several pieces of land that all we do is plant pines and when ready to cut cut and replant and to not loose your arse... I would suggest Standing Timber Insurance thats what we do. :2cents:

Thanks for the information. Had never heard of such.
The state forestry man came out and looked and said not to worry they were not the beetles.
He didn't know as much as he thought he did.

We replanted but our forestry guy never mentioned such insurance. Of course he may have been preoccupied. He ended up driving to the funeral home parking lot and shooting himself.

I had a cousin whose husband had counted on his timber being his life insurance policy.
He died and that Katrina storm wiped out the timber.

What I'm trying to say is that you can't just assume that timber is like a savings account.

 

[skyhightree1]

Ryder I understand. There isnt alot of people that know about standing timber insurance and even less that will insure it.