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Slash Pine
The fast-growing timber and shade pine of the Gulf and coastal Southeast - glossy long needles, quick straight growth, tolerance of wet ground, and a major role in both the modern timber industry and the historic naval-stores trade.
Safety notes Slash pine is safe to grow and handle - it's a fast-growing evergreen timber, shade, and wildlife tree, not a food plant. Its needles ('pine straw') are widely raked as garden mulch. The main practical considerations are its large size and its shallow roots on wet sites, which make it somewhat prone to leaning or blowing over in hurricanes - site it with room and away from targets.
Overview
Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is the fast-growing evergreen of the warm Gulf and South Atlantic coast - a tall (60-80 foot), straight tree with glossy, dark-green needles 7-10 inches long in bundles of two and three, and shiny spiny cones. It's a close cousin of loblolly and longleaf but favors the lower, moister, more coastal ground of Florida, Georgia, and the Gulf states, and it grows fast to a dense, handsome shade or screening tree.
The one thing to knowIt's a close cousin of loblolly and longleaf but favors the lower, moister, more coastal ground of Florida, Georgia, and the Gulf states, and it grows fast to a dense, handsome shade or screening tree.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 21 daysRange: 14–35 days
- Soil temperature
- 75 °FRange: 65–85 °F
- Height
- 75 ftRange: 60–90 ft
- Spread
- 30 ftRange: 20–40 ft
- Cold
- Takes light frostdamaged below 10°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 105°F
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 200 years
- Save seeds
- About 180 days after plantingRange: 150–210 days
- Self-sows
- Yes, expect volunteers
- Soil
- Tolerates wet soil
- Water
- Medium
- Plant spacing
- 25 ftRange: 15–40 ft
When to plant
No planting window on record for this zone. Nearest zone with one: 8a.
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
Years 1-2 - fast-starting seedling
About the first 1.5 years after planting
Care at this stage
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Water regularly while establishing
Water a young slash pine regularly through its first year or two. Like loblolly - and unlike longleaf - it has no grass stage and grows fast from the start, so keep it moist while it takes off. It tolerates wetter ground than most pines once established.
-
Mulch the root zone
A wide mulch ring conserves moisture and reduces grass competition on the fast-growing seedling; keep it back from the trunk. Slash pine establishes easily on coastal and low, moist sites.
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Site it with room, and mind the shallow roots on wet ground
Slash pine becomes a large (60-80 foot) evergreen quickly. Give it full sun and room away from buildings and power lines - and note that on wet sites its shallow roots make it somewhat prone to leaning or windthrow in hurricanes, so keep it clear of targets.
Months are typical seasonal windows; climate, variety, and plant age can shift them.
Watch out for
3 to know. 2 are high-risk: Fusiform Rust, Southern Pine Beetle. None are active in October.
Fusiform RustSeverity High 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.
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.
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.
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.
Pitch CankerSeverity Medium DiseaseSeason: May–SepDying shoot tips and branches, sunken cankers oozing copious resin, pitch-soaked wood beneath the bark, and flagging (browning) branches scattered in the crown.
Dying shoot tips and branches, sunken cankers oozing copious resin, pitch-soaked wood beneath the bark, and flagging (browning) branches scattered in the crown.
There's no simple cure - prune out cankered branches well below symptoms in dry weather, sanitize tools, and keep trees vigorous; severely affected trees may need removal.
Avoid wounding trees, control bark-and-shoot insects that create entry points, don't over-fertilize, and reduce stress; plant on suitable sites and avoid crowding.
A fungal disease of Southern pines, notably slash pine, that infects shoots, branches, and trunks (often through wounds or insect entry), causing resin-soaked sunken cankers, oozing pitch, and dieback; worse on stressed and wounded trees.
Good & bad neighbors
Plant nearby
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Native blueberries relish the acidic, well-drained sandy soil beneath pines - a natural understory pairing, since slash-pine needle litter keeps the ground acidic just as blueberries prefer.
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Two coastal-plain pines of the same fire-shaped landscape - fast slash pine and slow keystone longleaf; slash pine has sometimes replaced longleaf on flatwoods sites, but both belong to the open, fire-managed Southern pine woodland.
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The ground-layer bunchgrass of open, fire-managed pine flatwoods; wiregrass carries the low fires that keep slash-pine and longleaf woodlands open and supports their wildlife.
- Traditional pairings, thin evidence
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Native carnivorous plants of the wet, sunny pine flatwoods thrive in the open, fire-maintained ground of slash-pine and longleaf woodland seeps - part of the biodiverse coastal-plain understory.
Varieties · 4
You pick one when you add Slash Pine to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
The wild species: a fast-growing (60-80 foot) Gulf and coastal Southeastern evergreen with glossy 7-10 inch needles, shiny cones, and tolerance of moist, low ground.
Variety details for Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
Tall, straight pine with glossy dark-green long needles, a dense-then-high crown, and shiny spiny cones.
speciesnativefast-growingwet-tolerantA leading Deep South timber pine and a quick native shade and screening tree in warm coastal zones.
South Florida Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa)
The South Florida variety of slash pine - unusually, it has a longleaf-like grass stage and denser, harder wood, and forms the pine rocklands and flatwoods of South Florida, an ecosystem in its own right.
Variety details for South Florida Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa)
Slash pine with a grass-stage juvenile phase and dense, hard, resinous wood.
varietynativefloridagrass-stageThe right slash pine for the far-southern Florida climate.
Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
A related fast-growing Southern pine that is more cold-hardy and more broadly adaptable than slash pine, growing well farther inland and north; the better choice above zone 8 or on drier upland sites where slash pine's coastal, warm-climate preferences don't fit.
Variety details for Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
Fast-growing pine with medium-long needles and a broad open crown.
speciesnativefast-growingadaptableLongleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
The slower, longer-lived, fire-specialized keystone pine of the coastal plain, with a famous grass stage and a biodiverse savanna ecosystem; the choice where ecosystem restoration and longevity matter more than the fast growth slash pine offers.
Variety details for Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
Tall, open-crowned pine with the longest needles of the eastern pines and a grass-stage youth.
speciesnativekeystonefire-adapted
Grower tips
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