Category Archives: Silviculture

Burning some piney woods 2012 01 31

Why to burn more frequently: vines grow up trees and form ladder fuels

Prescribed burn of some piney woods at Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Pictures and videos by John S. Quarterman and Gretchen Quarterman, 31 January 2012.

Fortunately these vines were mostly in invasive exotics anyway (chinaberry, mimosa, Japanese privet) that had grown up along the field edge. After a few minutes, here’s the result.

Most of the rest of the woods burned much more evenly, with flames only a foot or two above the ground.

A flickr slideshow: Continue reading →

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 →

Privet fishing

So mi esposa went to a fancy master gardener class (here she is graduating) and learned that privet is an invasive exotic that should be pulled up. OK, privet fishing time!

First, hook some privet:

Then pull with tractor: Continue reading →

Loblolly pine pollen

A loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) candling with pollen:

We have lots of these, but not many with limbs like this so close to the ground. This one is in a cemetary with no close competitors, so it spread out more than up.

Pictures by John S. Quarterman, 27 April 2011, in the Revolutionary War Cemetery in Louisville, Georgia.

-jsq

Corn snake

Gretchen was very amused to see me do the snake dance. This corn snake was lying in the path at the edge of the field, and I almost stepped on it. Probably it was sunning itself to get warm.

It’s harmless, except to small rodents that live in corn fields. Elaphe guttata is a constrictor. This one was 3 or 4 feet long. They’re native to the U.S. southeast from New Jersey to Texas. I did not know until that day that corn snakes can climb trees.