I decided to cut 45 acres a little earlier than the prime time because I am eager to replant. I will not live forever and I want to have a reasonable chance of seeing my trees mature at least a little. I am looking forward to watching the forest grow. We have about 90 acres of 28 year old pine. Usually, we would let them grow another five years or so. But I cut half for the reasons above. I will let the other 45 acres grow another five years.
In September we are going to plant red clover to cover the ground and provide some nitrogen and biomass. I thought of doing sweet clover, but that can get five feet high in its second year and I don’t want it to top out my little trees. Red clover only gets a couple feet tall. I have never done this before, so I figure there will be some mistakes.
I have more or less settled (after some internal debate) to plant around ten acres in longleaf and the rest with good genetic quality loblolly. I plan to plant the loblolly far apart and count on natural regeneration to fill in the blanks.
I also put my land on the list for biosolids. It will probably be a few years before I get any.
My pictures show the harvest in process. We have had a lot of rain too. That turtle is NOT in a pond. He is swimming in my road. The last picture shows my sycamore grove. I just like those trees.