Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen: no browser bars, one tap away, and everything stays signed in. Free, nothing to download from an app store.
- Tap the Share button in your browser
- Scroll down and choose “Add to Home Screen”
- Open GrowSomeFood from your home screen
- Open your browser’s menu
- Choose “Add to Home screen” or “Install app”
- Open GrowSomeFood from your home screen
Longleaf Pine
The keystone pine of the Southern coastal plain - famous for a years-long 'grass stage,' the longest needles of the eastern pines, and a fire-dependent savanna ecosystem that is among the most biodiverse (and most endangered) in North America.
Safety notes Longleaf pine is safe to grow and handle - it's an evergreen timber, restoration, and wildlife tree, not a food plant. Its needles ('pine straw') are widely used as garden mulch. The one real-world caution is fire: longleaf ecosystems are fire-dependent and prescribed burning is a specialist practice - never attempt burning near structures without training, permits, and professional guidance.
Overview
Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is the great keystone tree of the Southern coastal plain and one of the most remarkable native trees in North America. It grows tall and stately - 80 to 120 feet - with dramatic needles 8 to 18 inches long (the longest of the eastern pines) tufted at its branch tips, and big 6-to-10-inch cones. Above all it's defined by its bizarre and wonderful youth: the 'grass stage.' For its first several years a longleaf seedling looks exactly like a tuft of grass, hugging the ground while it builds an enormous taproot and grows fireproof, before suddenly 'bolting' skyward several feet a year.
The one thing to knowIt grows tall and stately - 80 to 120 feet - with dramatic needles 8 to 18 inches long (the longest of the eastern pines) tufted at its branch tips, and big 6-to-10-inch cones.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 21 daysRange: 14–35 days
- Soil temperature
- 75 °FRange: 65–85 °F
- Height
- 90 ftRange: 60–110 ft
- Spread
- 35 ftRange: 25–45 ft
- Cold
- Takes hard frostdamaged below 0°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 105°F
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 300 years
- Save seeds
- About 180 days after plantingRange: 150–210 days
- Self-sows
- Yes, expect volunteers
- Soil
- Well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Plant spacing
- 30 ftRange: 20–50 ft
When to plant
Fall transplanting is open for 35 more days. Next: winter, Jan 1 to Mar 1.
- Transplant Sep 25 – Nov 24 Open now · 35 days leftAbout 4 weeks before to 4 weeks after your first frost (Oct 25 here)Fall planting also works in the mild South, letting roots establish over winter before the spring flush.
- Direct sow Oct 11 – Nov 15 Open now · 26 days leftAbout 2 weeks before to 3 weeks after your first frost (Oct 25 here)Sow fresh seed on cleared, exposed mineral soil in fall for spring germination; longleaf seed is short-lived and needs bare ground and full sun. Direct-seeding is used in restoration but is slower and chancier than planting container seedlings.
- Transplant Jan 1 – Mar 1 Opens in 73 daysPlant containerized longleaf seedlings in the cool, moist months (late winter) into sandy, well-drained, full-sun ground; container stock establishes far better than bare-root. Do not over-enrich or overwater the site.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
Establish, grow, repeat
Getting established and returning each season are different parts of the story.
Stage 1 of 3 · Getting established
Grass stage & rocket - years 1-6
About the first 5 years after planting
Care at this stage
-
Water lightly while establishing, then leave it dry
Water a young longleaf just enough to establish in its first year, then back off - it's a dry-site pine adapted to sandy, low-fertility soils and does not want rich, wet, or heavily fertilized ground. Overwatering and overfeeding actually harm it.
-
Be patient through the 'grass stage'
Longleaf's most famous quirk: for its first several years the seedling looks like a tuft of grass - a dense fountain of long needles hugging the ground with almost no visible stem. It's NOT stunted; it's building a huge taproot underground and growing fireproof. Do not panic, feed, or replace it - this is normal and can last 2-6+ years.
-
Keep grass and brush off the young tree
In the grass and early rocket stages, keep competing grass and brush cleared back so the seedling gets full sun - competition (not the tree itself) is what stalls it. Once it 'bolts,' it grows several feet a year.
-
Give it full sun and room, and understand its fire ecology
Longleaf needs full sun and becomes a tall (80-120 foot), long-lived pine. Its whole ecosystem is fire-dependent - the grass stage even resists ground fire - but prescribed burning is a specialist practice; site it with room and learn the fire ecology before attempting any burning.
Months are typical seasonal windows; climate, variety, and plant age can shift them.
Watch out for
3 to know. 1 is high-risk: Southern Pine Beetle. None are active in October.
Southern Pine BeetleSeverity High PestSeason: Apr–SepPopcorn-like white or reddish pitch tubes on the trunk, fading yellow-then-red crowns, S-shaped galleries under the bark, and expanding 'spots' of dying trees.
Longleaf is somewhat more resistant than loblolly, thanks to heavy resin defenses and naturally open spacing - but a crowded, stressed longleaf stand is still at real risk, so thinning matters here too.
Popcorn-like white or reddish pitch tubes on the trunk, fading yellow-then-red crowns, S-shaped galleries under the bark, and expanding 'spots' of dying trees.
There's no home cure for an infested tree - promptly remove and destroy attacked trees to slow spread, and consult a forester for stand-level outbreaks. Healthy, well-spaced, unstressed trees are the best defense.
Keep trees vigorous and unstressed, avoid wounding trunks, don't overcrowd, and thin dense stands to reduce competition stress - stand density is the single biggest factor you control.
The most destructive insect pest of Southern pines: a tiny bark beetle that bores through the bark and constructs S-shaped galleries in the inner bark, girdling and killing trees. It attacks stressed, crowded, or wounded pines and can spread rapidly through a stand in outbreak years. Susceptibility varies by pine species and, more than anything, by how crowded and stressed the stand is.
Brown-Spot Needle BlightSeverity Medium DiseaseSeason: May–SepBrown spots and bands on the long needles of grass-stage and young trees, browning and needle death, and grass-stage seedlings that never seem to grow out.
Brown spots and bands on the long needles of grass-stage and young trees, browning and needle death, and grass-stage seedlings that never seem to grow out.
Prescribed burning is the traditional ecosystem control; on individual seedlings, reducing competition and moisture on the needles helps, and vigorous seedlings outgrow it into the rocket stage.
Keep competition down and airflow good; on a landscape scale, prescribed fire historically controls the blight and helps seedlings leave the grass stage. Plant clean, healthy container stock.
A fungal needle disease especially important on longleaf in the grass stage, spotting and killing needles and prolonging the grass stage by robbing the seedling of the vigor it needs to bolt - historically kept in check by the frequent ground fires of the longleaf ecosystem.
Fusiform RustSeverity Low DiseaseSeason: Mar–MayElongated, spindle-shaped swellings (galls) on branches and stems, sometimes oozing orange spores in spring; branch dieback beyond galls and stem cankers on young trees.
Longleaf is relatively resistant and rarely needs intervention - far less affected than loblolly or slash pine, which is one reason longleaf is favored on high-rust sites.
Elongated, spindle-shaped swellings (galls) on branches and stems, sometimes oozing orange spores in spring; branch dieback beyond galls and stem cankers on young trees.
Prune out branch galls before they reach the trunk; trees with trunk galls near the base are often best removed, as the galls weaken and can kill young stems. Resistance and siting are the main controls.
Plant rust-resistant improved stock and match the species to the site in high-rust regions, avoid heavy oak cover next to susceptible young pines, and remove branch galls where practical.
A native rust fungus that alternates between pines and oaks and forms spindle-shaped swelling galls on pine branches and trunks. Susceptibility differs sharply between Southern pine species; where the rust is common, the choice of species and of rust-resistant improved planting stock decides how much damage a stand takes.
Good & bad neighbors
Plant nearby
-
The defining ground-layer grass of the longleaf savanna - wiregrass carries the frequent low fires that maintain the ecosystem and shelters its wildlife; longleaf and wiregrass are the two signature species of the community.
-
The sunny, open, fire-kept ground of a longleaf savanna supports a rich wildflower layer; native asters, coneflowers, and black-eyed Susans flourish in the light beneath the high, open pine crowns.
-
A native bunchgrass of open pine savanna that, like wiregrass, forms part of the fine-fuel ground layer and adds structure and wildlife value to a restored or ornamental longleaf planting.
-
Native carnivorous plants of the wet longleaf flatwoods and savanna seeps thrive in the open, sunny, fire-maintained ground beneath longleaf pine - part of its extraordinarily biodiverse understory.
Varieties · 4
You pick one when you add Longleaf Pine to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
The wild species: a tall (80-120 foot), long-lived pine of the Southern coastal plain with the longest needles of the eastern pines, big cones, a famous multi-year grass stage, and a fire-dependent savanna ecosystem of extraordinary biodiversity.
Variety details for Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
Tall, straight, open-crowned pine with long tufted needles and a grass-like juvenile stage.
speciesnativekeystonefire-adaptedThe keystone tree of Southern restoration.
Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
A related fast-growing Southern pine of the Gulf and coastal Southeast, without a grass stage - it grows quickly to a usable tree and tolerates wetter sites, making it a common timber and shade choice, though it lacks longleaf's fire-savanna ecology and longevity.
Variety details for Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
Fast-growing pine with medium-long needles and a dense pyramidal young form.
speciesnativefast-growinggulf-coastalLoblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
The fast, adaptable, widely planted Southern timber pine - it lacks longleaf's grass stage and savanna specialization but grows quickly on a huge range of sites, making it the workhorse where fast pine cover or timber is the goal rather than ecosystem restoration.
Variety details for Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
Fast-growing pine with medium needles and a broad, open crown when mature.
speciesnativefast-growingadaptablePond Pine (Pinus serotina)
A fire-adapted Southeastern pine of wet flatwoods and pocosins with serotinous cones that open after fire; a specialist of wet, boggy coastal sites where longleaf won't grow, and part of the same fire-shaped coastal-plain mosaic.
Variety details for Pond Pine (Pinus serotina)
Irregular pine of wet sites, often with tufts of needles sprouting directly from the trunk.
speciesnativewet-tolerantfire-adapted
Grower tips
Notes from growers, tagged with the zone they grow in. A person reads every post before it appears.
Nobody has posted about Longleaf Pine yet. The first one usually saves someone a season.
Free account. Your post shows your grower name and zone, never your email.