LittleDingus
Omono
This thread will track my efforts at pinus echinata over the next 5 years...
en.wikipedia.org
Its native range doesn't quite extend to the Kansas City area being mostly relegated to the Ozarks in south east Missouri, but it does extend to just within 200 miles from where I live.
plants.usda.gov
I went back and forth for a long time about ordering a pack of these from the Missouri Department of Conservation. They sell Missouri residents reforestation packs of native beneficial trees at dirt cheap prices. A pack of 10 echinata is $6.00 though why you wouldn't get a pack of 25 for $7 is beyond me
In the end, I _think_ I did not order the seedlings thinking for pine I needed to start with something larger to have anything worth looking at in 5 years and I'm running out of grow space at this house 
But we'll see...for $7 I may have just ordered them anyway...I did order several other packs for this competition but I didn't write anything down I'll get some pleasant little surprises when they finally ship 
But what I know I did order were some larger nursery plants from the Tennessee Wholesale Nursery...the only other place I could source this species! Even our local "native" nurseries did not have it.
I ordered 2x2' trees and 2x4' trees. These were only shipped bare root. They arrived earlier this week.
I suspect the nursery cuts the origional tap root early on...or else these are crossed with loblolly...which is a common cross in nature. I was expecting a more prominent crook at the root collar. Echinata typically grows a J shaped crook right at the root collar that has a demonstrated ability to protect protobuds just under the root collar. It's an adaptation to protect the tree during fires. The top may burn, but the crook helps protect buds that can quickly re-establish the tree after a fire. There is a bit of a bend in these, but not nearly as prominent as I would expect based on comparison pictures. When they cross with loblolly pine, that crook tends to soften and the crosses do not recover from fire as easily or at all. Being these are nursery grown and more likely destined for landscape planting, I can see that feature being cut of when young so the base of the tree is straight. I didn't examine them as carefully as I could have for evidence of a cut...though if it was done early enough, it might not be visible at this age anyway.
I was thinking to literally burn one to the ground and see what happened I might take the more rational approach of trunk chopping one which should trigger the same back budding behavior and see what happens! I'd really like a multiple trunk specimen. That likely won't happen in 5 years but the trees don't go away at the end of the contest 
For now, since they were bare root, I wanted to get them into a decent soil and let them start growing in. The two smaller trees were planted in a single 3 gallon grow bag with a mix of DE and fir bark. One of the larger trees was also put into a 3 gallon bag with the same mix...but then I ran out of fir bark The last tree is in a 3 gallon grow bag with straight DE (NAPA 8822). I mixed in a small amount of slow release fertilizer...way under dosed according to the label.
I'm disappointed in how little low growth remains on these I'm glad I opted for some 2' trees...they still have a little more low growth. The 4' trees are pretty bare until about 18" or so. I do not know if these guys back bud at all beyond being able to regrow from the root collar after a fire. I'm hoping they do.
For now, I intend to leave them alone probably for the entire 1st growing season. Coming bare root, they will need time to re-establish...assuming they wake up to begin with! That will give me plenty of time to research more into if/how I can trigger some lower growth on these guys. One of them _is_ destined for a trunk chop just to see if I can trigger a multi-trunk But I have no clue on what direction to take the rest of them yet. Now that I see these, I'm kinda hoping I did spend the $7 and get a grow pack of 25 seedlings!
One last interesting but...one of the 4'ers has a growth:
Pinus echinata - Wikipedia
Its native range doesn't quite extend to the Kansas City area being mostly relegated to the Ozarks in south east Missouri, but it does extend to just within 200 miles from where I live.
USDA Plants Database
I went back and forth for a long time about ordering a pack of these from the Missouri Department of Conservation. They sell Missouri residents reforestation packs of native beneficial trees at dirt cheap prices. A pack of 10 echinata is $6.00 though why you wouldn't get a pack of 25 for $7 is beyond me
In the end, I _think_ I did not order the seedlings thinking for pine I needed to start with something larger to have anything worth looking at in 5 years and I'm running out of grow space at this house But we'll see...for $7 I may have just ordered them anyway...I did order several other packs for this competition but I didn't write anything down I'll get some pleasant little surprises when they finally ship But what I know I did order were some larger nursery plants from the Tennessee Wholesale Nursery...the only other place I could source this species! Even our local "native" nurseries did not have it.
I ordered 2x2' trees and 2x4' trees. These were only shipped bare root. They arrived earlier this week.
I suspect the nursery cuts the origional tap root early on...or else these are crossed with loblolly...which is a common cross in nature. I was expecting a more prominent crook at the root collar. Echinata typically grows a J shaped crook right at the root collar that has a demonstrated ability to protect protobuds just under the root collar. It's an adaptation to protect the tree during fires. The top may burn, but the crook helps protect buds that can quickly re-establish the tree after a fire. There is a bit of a bend in these, but not nearly as prominent as I would expect based on comparison pictures. When they cross with loblolly pine, that crook tends to soften and the crosses do not recover from fire as easily or at all. Being these are nursery grown and more likely destined for landscape planting, I can see that feature being cut of when young so the base of the tree is straight. I didn't examine them as carefully as I could have for evidence of a cut...though if it was done early enough, it might not be visible at this age anyway.
I was thinking to literally burn one to the ground and see what happened
I might take the more rational approach of trunk chopping one which should trigger the same back budding behavior and see what happens! I'd really like a multiple trunk specimen. That likely won't happen in 5 years but the trees don't go away at the end of the contest For now, since they were bare root, I wanted to get them into a decent soil and let them start growing in. The two smaller trees were planted in a single 3 gallon grow bag with a mix of DE and fir bark. One of the larger trees was also put into a 3 gallon bag with the same mix...but then I ran out of fir bark
The last tree is in a 3 gallon grow bag with straight DE (NAPA 8822). I mixed in a small amount of slow release fertilizer...way under dosed according to the label. I'm disappointed in how little low growth remains on these
I'm glad I opted for some 2' trees...they still have a little more low growth. The 4' trees are pretty bare until about 18" or so. I do not know if these guys back bud at all beyond being able to regrow from the root collar after a fire. I'm hoping they do.For now, I intend to leave them alone probably for the entire 1st growing season. Coming bare root, they will need time to re-establish...assuming they wake up to begin with! That will give me plenty of time to research more into if/how I can trigger some lower growth on these guys. One of them _is_ destined for a trunk chop just to see if I can trigger a multi-trunk
But I have no clue on what direction to take the rest of them yet. Now that I see these, I'm kinda hoping I did spend the $7 and get a grow pack of 25 seedlings!One last interesting but...one of the 4'ers has a growth:
but ya gotta roll with the punches and such
