The longleaf pine I transplanted a few years ago continues to seem healthy. I mentioned earlier that it seemed to be entering the bottlebrush stage, leaving the very young grass stage behind. It’s definite now.
There’s a little wild pea plant growing up into the needles.
Earlier in the spring I noticed a bunch of needles sprouting from the center and growing upwards. It looked like a mohawk haircut. It seemed like they were growing noticeably day by day. Their growth seems to have slowed with our dry weather, but the plant looks healthy overall. It’s very encouraging.
Not too long from now, however, we will move from our current house and I will no longer be able to tend this little longleaf. I plan to tell the new owners about this young tree and a little about the history of the longleaf pine in this area (if they aren’t already familiar), and then encourage them to preserve this one.
I was wondering what you were going to do with your longleaf pine. I don’t think it’s realistically possible to transplant them once they’ve gotten this big; the taproot is too long and robust.
Scott — I had such poor results trying to transplant young longleaf pines in the grass stage that I never considered trying to move this one. I hope the new owners will take care of it. I’m not sure whether we have any longleaf at the new property. Unlike our current property,we have mostly hardwoods on the new property.
Hope that longleaf pine gets good attention from the new owners and grows into a big beautiful tree.
Robin — I wish I could nurse it along to that point, but if the new owners keep it, I guess we’ll be able to see it grow. We may not live long enough to see a big, beautiful tree, but maybe early adulthood.