Planting White Pine Trees
White pines. Whenever I think of white pines, I remember hunting when I was a kid and standing near trees that were giants. Now every pine tree I plant, I can envision those days in the deep woods and those grand trees and hope someone else will have that same enjoyment. These trees will help you too in establishing a desired vision to your landscape.
Beyond their size, white pines also fill important ecological niches. They grow across broad ranges of forest and urban conditions, finding much of North America to their liking.
Our 6 ft White Pines
White Pine trees need protection from deer, disease, insects, and competing weeds and shrubs. The better your weed control the better your trees will grow. When seedlings are planted, it best to plant them with large spacings to allow more light to the plant. If these trees are planted in shade, they tend to be more open. White pines are used around new construction because they perform in a wide range of soil conditions. If you have compacted soil from new construction, we suggest smaller trees of 3-5' height.
Growing anything under white pines and spruces is tough and it is not the acid issue. The conifers produce such a fine mass of roots close to the soil surface that anything else trying to grow in that area has to compete for water and nutrients. Thus other plants often tend not to do very well in this environment. You will need to provide good moisture and fertilize during the establishment period to get them off to a good start. Root pruning of the white pine can help but don't cut out an area larger than 5% of the root zone at a time.
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Okay campers: This tree proves that scientists don't know when a tree is extinct. Fossil records showed that this tree was extinct for 35 million years, yet this deciduous conifer fooled them all until 1945 when it was rediscovered in a remote valley of Central China in 1945. Dawn Redwood or The Dinosaur Tree, is officially called, "Metasequoia glyptostroboides".
The Dawn Redwood first came to America in 1945 in seeds and has shown to be viable in zones 6 to 8. This tree grows fast and can reach 75 to 100 feet by 25 feet in diameter. It likes full sun to partial shade and is tolerant of moist to dry soils with ph ranges of 3.7 to 7.0. Go ahead and plant it in clay soils, loam or sand. Its bright green, feathery, needle-like foliage will turn brown and will drop quickly in the fall. Thus this plant will be suitable for a great summer screen or a specimen plant.