The most important timber pine in the South. Growing from your hands. Pinus taeda, the Loblolly Pine, is the most commercially important timber tree in the eastern United States and the second most planted tree in the world after the coconut palm. It covers more acres of southeastern forest than any other single tree species and produces more timber volume than any other American pine. Fast-growing, adaptable, and highly productive, it is the backbone of the southern timber industry and increasingly important for pulpwood, biomass, and carbon sequestration programs. Improved seed selections have been developed for increased growth rate, straightness, and disease resistance, producing trees that outperform wild populations by measurable margins. If you are looking to buy Loblolly Pine seeds or grow southern yellow pine from seed, this is the tree that the southern forest economy is built on. The most commercially important timber tree in the eastern United States The second most planted tree in the world by volume, behind only the coconut palm Improved seed selections offer enhanced growth rate, straightness, and disease resistance over wild stock Extremely fast-growing, one of the fastest large pine species in North American horticulture Adaptable to a wide range of soils across the southeastern United States Things you probably did not know about the Loblolly Pine It grows over 60 million acres in the southeastern United States alone. Loblolly Pine is the dominant commercial species across the entire southern timber belt from Virginia to Texas and from the coastal plain to the piedmont. The total standing volume of Loblolly Pine in the US exceeds that of any other tree species in the country. The name means muddy hole in old Southern dialect. Loblolly was a term used in the colonial-era South for a low, muddy depression, exactly the kind of wet, poorly drained site where the tree grows naturally. The common name stuck even though the tree grows equally well on well-drained upland sites. It sequesters carbon faster than almost any other temperate tree. The combination of fast growth and large final size makes Loblolly Pine one of the most effective carbon sequestration trees available in the eastern United States. Forestry carbon credit programs have enrolled millions of acres of Loblolly Pine plantations specifically because of the speed at which the trees accumulate biomass. Improved seed orchards have transformed southern forestry productivity. Since the 1950s, cooperative tree improvement programs at southern universities have selected, bred, and tested superior Loblolly Pine genotypes for commercial planting. The improved selections available today grow 15 to 25 percent faster than unselected wild stock and show significantly better form and disease resistance, representing decades of scientific plant breeding. Growing Details Botanical Name: Pinus taeda Stratification: Recommended, 30 to 60 days cold stratification USDA Zones: 6 to 9 Soil: Adaptable, tolerates poor, sandy, clay, or wet soils across a wide range Light: Full sun Height: 60 to 100 feet Spread: 20 to 35 feet Growth Rate: Very fast, 3 to 5 feet per year in ideal conditions Plant it in the Southeast where it belongs and let it do what it has been doing for millions of years. No pine in the South grows faster.
