Planting Hardwoods for Today’s Timber Markets

Today’s timber markets, in some regions of the Southeast, have left some landowners asking: “Should I replant with pine or hardwood, or even replant at all?” Most foresters have been taught that if you cut a tree or have a timber sale, you should replant with pine. For the most part, this is true. After all, Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda L.) is an “elastic” species, meaning that it can be planted on a wide variety of sites, and do well. Given the current price landowners are receiving for certain products, however, more and more are considering planting and managing hardwood forests.

Regenerating or starting a hardwood stand is very different from regenerating pines. Loblolly Pine is an early successional species, meaning that it will be one of the first species that will seed and begin to grow on a site. This is primarily due to the way pine seed is dispersed from the mother tree. Pine seeds have a wing and are spread by the wind, potentially traveling for miles once they are released from the cone. Some hardwood species do use the wind to disperse their seed (Ash, Red Maple, etc.); however, oaks do not. Therefore, at times, we must look to man-made regeneration techniques and management to establish hardwood forests.

Watch Paul Jeffreys, PhD, one of our Reforestation Advisors share some pointers on how to choose between Pine and Hardwoods for your land. 

Familiar Face, New Role!

Please join us in congratulating Jason Watson on his promotion to ArborGen Sales Manager.
A familiar face to many in forestry, Jason is a highly knowledgable, experienced forester with a passion for helping people, and we’re fortunate to have him guide our team of Reforestation Advisors.

Jason attended Mississippi State University and received a bachelor of science in forestry in 1996. He began his forestry career at Anderson-Tully Company, focusing on hardwood silviculture for five years and worked as a consulting forester in Mississippi before moving to South Carolina. In South Carolina, Jason spent extensive time working in reforestation with Weyerhaeuser Company and CellFor before coming to ArborGen in August of 2012 as the Reforestation Advisor for South Carolina. Currently, he is a candidate for a Master of Science in forestry at Mississippi State University.

Watch the video below and get to know Jason.

Customer Success Story

“We have different types of sites that dictate what species we plant and we’re very pleased with ArborGen seedlings. They have the private landowner in mind.”

– Jason Goforth,
Goforth Forest Management, Meridian, MS

Click here for the previous edition of TreeLines.