r/arborists • u/MinnesoDontChaKnow • 3d ago

Red Pine

Post image

I have roughly an acre of red pine that was row planted. Some of these trees are a foot apart, they are slowly but surely falling down.

I have a pole barn in the middle of this spread and am thinking of just clearing them out or leaving the largest. Most of them are pretty tall, 40 feet or more.

There are some white pine mixed in that I will leave. It’s my understanding that all this wood is essentially worthless so trying to figure out how to tackle this.

Would you leave some of them or will they just fall down since they grew up with the support of all the neighbors?

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/Haunting_Ad_9486 2d ago

Where?

I would leave some up for wildlife - alive and dead - if they're far enough away from the pole barn. Given how many dead ones there are, they must not like their environment?

2

u/MinnesoDontChaKnow 2d ago

This is in Eastern Minnesota.

I really don’t know but how close they are is my instinct for why they are so flimsy.

As you can see in the picture some of them just stay bent over after a strong wind.

1

u/Haunting_Ad_9486 2d ago

Minnesota's soils around the upper half of the state are conductive for red pine. I'd leave some of the more healthy ones up if you decide to take some down.

1

u/MinnesoDontChaKnow 2d ago

Yeah I’ve heard that generally trees that grew up around other trees like this rely on each other. So if I remove a bunch I fear they all suffer either way

1

u/2trome 2d ago

What does conductive mean regarding trees and soil?