RE: Monterey Pine
- To: Mediterannean Plants List <m*@ucdavis.edu>
- Subject: RE: Monterey Pine
- From: T* D* <t*@xtra.co.nz>
- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 21:21:47 +1300
Moira Ryan wrote:
>Regarding the growing of the tree in New Zealand. Not by any means all
>this country has sandy soils, quite a lot of areas are loams or even
>heavy clays
This is certainly true for my garden and the surrounding Regional Council
land. The Regional Council has a P.radiata forest that has been in the
process of being logged for the last 4 years, and it has replanted more
trees for the next crop. The soil is very poor quality, the trees are
planted on steep hillsides, but there is plenty of rain and the soil does
not dry out much below the surface.
>In spite of the soil they are planted in, the growth is phenomenal with
>millable timber being achieved in 30-35 years.
My neighbour has been growing his own and milling it too (has his own saw
mill!), and reckons on milling the best growing trees after 25 years here.
>In the early days some other species were also tried for timber
>production here. Two I have come across were Douglas Fir and Corsican
>Pine. The latter was no competitor, but the fir proved quite good and is
>still planted in small quantities.
I have both of these as well as the P.radiata, all the same age (estimate
60-80 years old). Someone earlier in this century must have decided to
plant this area in mixed conifers for timber and a few trees (presumably
too small at the time) escaped being cut down. The P.radiata have the
greatest volume of timber, the Corsican pines are currently the tallest and
the Douglas Firs are, to my mind, the most attractive.
>I was a bit astonished that they were ever have been popular as garden
>trees in California. I should have thought they would be a bit
>overwhelming in any average sized property.
I wouldn't grow any of these three as garden trees in anything less than an
acre, and then I'd put them as far from the house as possible. Of course,
that would make them too close to the neighbours. At this age all are in
the 25 to 30 metre height range. I can only imagine the mess one would make
in a well-planted garden when it came time to fell it.
