We didn’t know there were any longleaf at the bottom of the pond, but the white candles are unmistakable:
Pictures of Longleaf pine (Pinus Palustris) by Gretchen Quarterman
for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 April 2012.
The needles are also longer than on the nearby slash pines:
Continue readingWe’re on Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen 2011: as 9. South Georgia Wetlands: Four Decades of Ditches Dry Out South Georgia Wetlands:
Since the 1970s, state and federal regulatory agencies have allowed the destruction of more than 200,000 acres of highly critical wetlands throughout South Georgia to increase timber production and agricultural yields and usher in residential and commercial development. These wetlands that captured water and slowly released it to streams no longer perform that important function. The result has been increased floods when it rains and record low flows when it doesn’t….
Flooding? Like the 700 year flood in Lowndes County 3 years ago today?
What’s a wetland, anyway?
the greatest concentration of wetlands is in the Coastal Plain of South Georgia. Though these forested foodplains and wetlands may not seem directly linked to our rivers and streams, they play an important role in holding water during rain events and dispensing it during dry periods. The sponges and kidneys of our state, they mitigate major floods, lessen the impacts of drought, and clean the water that passes through them, while regulating the amount of freshwater entering Georgia’s coastal estuaries where commercially important seafood find critical habitat. Additionally, these wetlands provide important habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.
So what’s the problem?
In an effort to convert these wild lands intoContinue reading
This is a road, at least a hundred years old, after a prescribed burn:
Those are mostly slash pines (Pinus elliottii), with one or two longleaf and some oaks.
-jsq
Back in December
we burned some planted longleaf.
Six weeks later, they’re greening up and candling.
I couldn’t find a single longleaf that didn’t survive.
Even ones that a few weeks ago you would have thought
were burnt sticks now have green leaves or white candles
or both.
Here’s a slideshow.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman 29 February 2012.
-jsq
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.
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, 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
First, hook some privet:
Then pull with tractor: Continue reading
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
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.
Here he is stretched out: Continue reading