I just got from Marianna Florida looking for some land to retire on and to start my homestead and saw the hurricane damage. It was mind blowing to see the damage so far inland and so much complete timber land leveled. A real estate agent said he’s been there for 60 years and never seen it so bad. I’m having trouble finding reasonable priced land so I asked the realtor if they would be selling the timber land that was damage and he told me they are burning the down trees (mostly pines) or just leaving them on the ground to rot since the mills aren’t taking the wood. You can see the damage on google map satellite if you look around Hinson Conservation & Recreation Area.
I found a 25 acre property for sale but there are hundreds of trees down just on this property and thousands of acres around it with damage, would leaving this much wood on the ground to rot cause any disease or insect problems that could spread to the fruit and nut trees I will be planting?
Pines were snapped in half while most hardwoods were blown down. It was a ugly site to see so many large pecan trees blown down. Is there anything you can do at planting to make the root system stronger or go deeper? Or is there a better species of nut tree to plant? Ultimately I know Mother Nature could take any tree down but I would like to try to prevent this off course, one property I seen lost all 12 mature pecan trees in the front yard they must of thrown up when they got home and seen that.
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Pecan is a taproot species, but when it is transplanted, the taproot often fails to re-grow. The way to get pecan with a strong taproot is to plant the seed in place and graft it when a few years old. Even with this, a hurricane can still take the trees down.
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With the pecans I’d think a lot of the issue is the soil. Some soils don’t provide much support when they are saturated with water. That’s why the tree blew over. The soil wasn’t strong enough to support the tree. It’s partly a root issue but also a soil issue. A heavier, ie more clay, soil might be firm enough to support the tree.
The pines on the other hand are planted or naturally close together. That means the root systems are strongly intertwined. The trees support each other. It’s a way different root situation than a big pecan out by itself and exposed to the wind.
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I seen a construction site that was digging a trench and there was about 2’ of sandy soil on top with orange clay below. Would it help if you used a auger to loosen the clay below the sand? In other words if you auger a hole 10’ deep will the root grow to the lease resistance and grow down into the augured hole?
Is there a fruit tree you can grow between pecans or walnuts to fill in the space between the pecan as well to help interlock the root systems (Kill two birds with 1 stone)? I thought about growing walnuts for timber use in the future so in that case I could plant them like the pines closer together.
