Transplanting pines for erosion control

[mglenn005]

Location: NW Alabama
Soil type: clay, low ph, around 4.5-5
Size: +/- 0.5 acre total,
Objective: stabilize the soil and prevent runoff.

Discussion. A small portion of our property was a “wildcat” coal strip mine. Wildcat, meaning, illegal. It also had the clay pigments mined for mortar and stiff. Needless to say, it’s barren and very difficult to establish. And I mean nothing. Its a muddy, clay mess when raining, full of rock slag, coal slag, etc. After several years of liming and trying to plant wheat, rye, buckwheat, sorghum, millet, I have almost given up on stabilizing the soil in this area. The only thing I haven’t tried is renting a grain drill. Not as easy as it sounds. We do have a 2 row planter now and I could try to plant sorghum or something.

Erosion is causing significant damage. I have witnessed multiple inches of erosion after a single rain event (evident by a small rock stacked on a column of clay).

Potential solution for comments: there are pine trees surrounding the area and some pine trees growing in this type of soil. Near some of the larger seeds are 1’ pine seedlings. My thought is to dig them up in “shovel slices” and transplant in this area. I was thinking 5x5’ spacing. I don’t know if I have enough seedlings to do the whole area, but I would start on the banks of our primary ditch where erosion is the worst. Has anyone ever transplanted native pine seedlings? Would it be better to just buy them?


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[Telemark]

How big is the area?

I have seen the exact same thing in Ohio. Barren hills of overburden and poisoned ponds, and just a few pioneering pines creeping in the edges of the spoil banks, SLOWLY over decades. If it was a large area, I would probably just buy pines and maybe give them lime and fertilizer if they need it. But if the area isn't too massive, I'd look around for clean fill and just fill in on top of it. Maybe buy a few truckloads of dirt and plant it straight away with something that will prevent erosion.

 

[MickT]

Have you contacted the state? Some have funds set up for mine reclamation.


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[Telemark]

Ok, that's an even better idea.

 

[yoderjac]

You might want to start with something before the pines. A couple things I'd look for given your description. I have reclaimed old logging decks in poor pH heavy clay soils where nothing was growing on them, not even weeds. They are now lush food plots. All of the top soil had been removed and the big issue was the heavy equipment had compacted the clay. When it rained a heavy crust would form and nothing would grow.

You could have a compaction issue as well. The first thing I did was use a single shank subsoiler and went as deep as I could. I didn't want to turn the soil over like with a bottom plow, just relieve the compaction. In my case, with lime and fertilizer, I was able to cycle winter rye and buckwheat for a couple seasons and then plant clover.

You case, a strip mine, may be even more difficult. After relieving the compaction, I would consider using bicolor lespedeza. It is a non-native and can be invasive in some situations, but one of the uses for it is reclaiming old strip mines. It is a perennial legume and fixes nitrogen into the soil. It will grow in pretty harsh conditions. It is not a great deer food, but they will fawn in it as cover. It produces millions of tiny seeds and is often planted for quail. Turkey poults use the seed and vertical cover to protect them from avian predators. It grows 6' to 10' tall.

It can be a little hard to establish. You can drill it or lightly till and broadcast. I find it is much more economical to plant from seed than to plant seedlings but it is sold both ways. It takes about 2 years to establish. One of the difficulties is that it spends a lot of time putting down roots and can be overtaken by weeds. When I plant it in the spring, I set my mower high and mow weeds just above it. In a strip mine situation, you probably won't have an issue with weed competition and who cares if you do. At least something is growing. In all cases, it looks like a failure by the first fall. During the second season is when you will see a surprising change. It really takes off that second year and the stand should be chest high by fall. If weed completion is an issue, I have a trick that works beautifully. During that second spring, I spray it with gly. Timing is key. Bicolor greens-up very late. I spray just before it leafs-out. This kills all the other weeds that were actively growing but does not impact the bicolor because it is still dormant. Again, in your case, I doubt weeds will be an issue.

There are two methods to manage it. The one it likes best is fire. Burn it every 3 years or so to maintain a healthy stand. Bicolor likes burning so much, that the places it can become invasive are places where burns are regularly done. I've been using bicolor for over 10 years and we do conduct controlled burns. I've seen a little bit just outside the fields where we planted it but not much. It is not nearly as problematic as something like autumn olive that pops up everywhere birds poop. Bicolor is much harder to propagate from seed. It is also not that difficult to eliminate. I took a bicolor field, bushhoged it flat, and planted an RR crop for 2 years. The first year I had some bicolor pop back up, but after the second year it was gone.

Another interesting thing I have found is that deer will browse it when it is young and tender. Another way to manage it is to set your bushhog about a foot off the ground and mow it every 3 years or so. It will bounce back from the roots next year. I found that if I bushhog it flat after it has been growing for a number of years, new young tender plants pop up from seed and the deer browse them. We have one field that I've just been bushhogging flat each year. I'm not sure how long I can do this before it will be eliminated, but it is providing a food source in the mean time.

Presuming you can get bicolor started growing, I'd maintain it for 5 or 6 years. If you want to convert to a higher value food crop after that, you will still be starting with low OM. I would avoid tillage as much as possible. Bush hog it flat and spray with gly and 24D when it begins to come back. I would then throw and mow crops like WR and Buckwheat. You might even try GHR as the soil improves for some organic tillage.

Those are my thoughts. Not a direct answer to pines, but trees seem to be a later stage of succession than something like bicolor.

Good Luck,

Jack

 

[ruskbucks]

We use E-matting at work for our erosion control. They are like 15 ft rolls of straw with a bio-degradable line woven in the straw holding them together. We seed the area and then roll out the matting over the top. It works great. We use it on 3 to 1 slopes and it holds. I'm thinking the rye didn't take hold cause the seed was washing away? That stuff grows in anything? I would seed it with some sort of grass seed and use rye as a cover crop. The rye should come up in a few days. You could also look into putting some silt fence along the top of where you want to seed. This will stop almost all the water/silt from washing down. A lot of time the water will run along the silt fence and away from the area. If there are any washouts use a straw bale with 2 wooden stakes pounded through it and into the soil. This could also be used in place of the silt fence too, depending on how large of a area.

 

[MickT]

I’ve worked on reclaimed mine sites and log decks and they are completely different. The topsoil has been completely stripped off and lost on mine benches. The mine sites usually look like chipped shale 5 years after 15 tons of lime per acre and bales and bales of hay being disked in. Strip mining completely destroys any life in the soil and most landowners don’t have the budget to get these sites back to marginally functional.

TN uses fees and fines to pay for reclamation. Some of these sites ran over $10k/ acre for soil amendments, shaping, and revegetation. Don’t know if your state has such a program.


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[mglenn005]

Have you contacted the state? Some have funds set up for mine reclamation.


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I’ve looked into federal or state funding. I haven’t figured it out yet with applications and farm ID, etc. I’m afraid it’s such a small piece of land, it wouldn’t be a high priority.


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[mglenn005]

You might want to start with something before the pines. A couple things I'd look for given your description. I have reclaimed old logging decks in poor pH heavy clay soils where nothing was growing on them, not even weeds. They are now lush food plots. All of the top soil had been removed and the big issue was the heavy equipment had compacted the clay. When it rained a heavy crust would form and nothing would grow.

You could have a compaction issue as well. The first thing I did was use a single shank subsoiler and went as deep as I could. I didn't want to turn the soil over like with a bottom plow, just relieve the compaction. In my case, with lime and fertilizer, I was able to cycle winter rye and buckwheat for a couple seasons and then plant clover.

You case, a strip mine, may be even more difficult. After relieving the compaction, I would consider using bicolor lespedeza. It is a non-native and can be invasive in some situations, but one of the uses for it is reclaiming old strip mines. It is a perennial legume and fixes nitrogen into the soil. It will grow in pretty harsh conditions. It is not a great deer food, but they will fawn in it as cover. It produces millions of tiny seeds and is often planted for quail. Turkey poults use the seed and vertical cover to protect them from avian predators. It grows 6' to 10' tall.

It can be a little hard to establish. You can drill it or lightly till and broadcast. I find it is much more economical to plant from seed than to plant seedlings but it is sold both ways. It takes about 2 years to establish. One of the difficulties is that it spends a lot of time putting down roots and can be overtaken by weeds. When I plant it in the spring, I set my mower high and mow weeds just above it. In a strip mine situation, you probably won't have an issue with weed competition and who cares if you do. At least something is growing. In all cases, it looks like a failure by the first fall. During the second season is when you will see a surprising change. It really takes off that second year and the stand should be chest high by fall. If weed completion is an issue, I have a trick that works beautifully. During that second spring, I spray it with gly. Timing is key. Bicolor greens-up very late. I spray just before it leafs-out. This kills all the other weeds that were actively growing but does not impact the bicolor because it is still dormant. Again, in your case, I doubt weeds will be an issue.

There are two methods to manage it. The one it likes best is fire. Burn it every 3 years or so to maintain a healthy stand. Bicolor likes burning so much, that the places it can become invasive are places where burns are regularly done. I've been using bicolor for over 10 years and we do conduct controlled burns. I've seen a little bit just outside the fields where we planted it but not much. It is not nearly as problematic as something like autumn olive that pops up everywhere birds poop. Bicolor is much harder to propagate from seed. It is also not that difficult to eliminate. I took a bicolor field, bushhoged it flat, and planted an RR crop for 2 years. The first year I had some bicolor pop back up, but after the second year it was gone.

Another interesting thing I have found is that deer will browse it when it is young and tender. Another way to manage it is to set your bushhog about a foot off the ground and mow it every 3 years or so. It will bounce back from the roots next year. I found that if I bushhog it flat after it has been growing for a number of years, new young tender plants pop up from seed and the deer browse them. We have one field that I've just been bushhogging flat each year. I'm not sure how long I can do this before it will be eliminated, but it is providing a food source in the mean time.

Presuming you can get bicolor started growing, I'd maintain it for 5 or 6 years. If you want to convert to a higher value food crop after that, you will still be starting with low OM. I would avoid tillage as much as possible. Bush hog it flat and spray with gly and 24D when it begins to come back. I would then throw and mow crops like WR and Buckwheat. You might even try GHR as the soil improves for some organic tillage.

Those are my thoughts. Not a direct answer to pines, but trees seem to be a later stage of succession than something like bicolor.

Good Luck,

Jack

Thanks for the input. I would prefer to get grasses growing big just haven’t had any luck, hence pines. The old mine areas that have pines have at least put enough pine needles on the ground to prevent erosion. I’ll look into BL, but am nervous about non natives.


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[mglenn005]

We use E-matting at work for our erosion control. They are like 15 ft rolls of straw with a bio-degradable line woven in the straw holding them together. We seed the area and then roll out the matting over the top. It works great. We use it on 3 to 1 slopes and it holds. I'm thinking the rye didn't take hold cause the seed was washing away? That stuff grows in anything? I would seed it with some sort of grass seed and use rye as a cover crop. The rye should come up in a few days. You could also look into putting some silt fence along the top of where you want to seed. This will stop almost all the water/silt from washing down. A lot of time the water will run along the silt fence and away from the area. If there are any washouts use a straw bale with 2 wooden stakes pounded through it and into the soil. This could also be used in place of the silt fence too, depending on how large of a area.

I’ve looked at erosion mats, but it’s fairly expensive. I do know of a guy selling them by the pAllets at discount. Maybe I can smooth existing washes out and seed and put mats down. In the past, we have cut small pines and dropped in the washes. That actually worked well and we did get grasses growing. I have a lot of washes though.

What about unrolling round bales of hay? Do they unroll? How much area do they cover? I know of some pastures in the area that we could probably buy?


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[mglenn005]

I’ve worked on reclaimed mine sites and log decks and they are completely different. The topsoil has been completely stripped off and lost on mine benches. The mine sites usually look like chipped shale 5 years after 15 tons of lime per acre and bales and bales of hay being disked in. Strip mining completely destroys any life in the soil and most landowners don’t have the budget to get these sites back to marginally functional.

TN uses fees and fines to pay for reclamation. Some of these sites ran over $10k/ acre for soil amendments, shaping, and revegetation. Don’t know if your state has such a program.


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Completely agree. We’ve owned for 7 years now.....still all that coal slag there. I bet it’s been 50 years since it was illegally mined. The only thing that changed was the Depth of the washers and ditches. Some pines have reestablisjed, but it’s been a slow road.


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[MickT]

Round bales will unroll. That might be a good option, especially if you can find a local farmer needing rid of old hay. The old bales will already be decomposing so maybe you can build an A or O horizon on top of what’s there. Bales will have seed in them too, but most likely not native. That’s nothing that a good dose of glyphosate can’t fix down the road.

Native vs introduced isn’t the issue right now though- it’s keeping the soil between you’d property lines.


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[mglenn005]

I agree mick, I would like anything growing first and solve other problems down the road. I want to protect the silt that is there, get something growing (even ryegrass). Or, I’m gonna just plant pines and let’s the pine needs help me out. Here is an aerial shot of the area. The whole picture is probably 15 acres, but the primary “area” is much smaller. You can see additional washes is the perimeter.

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[yoderjac]

Thanks for the input. I would prefer to get grasses growing big just haven’t had any luck, hence pines. The old mine areas that have pines have at least put enough pine needles on the ground to prevent erosion. I’ll look into BL, but am nervous about non natives.


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I don't blame you for being nervous about non-natives. Caution is certainly required. While Bicolor has worked well for me and it is often used for strip mine reclamation, I understand your concern. It is definitely worth talking to the local professionals about how it acts in your area. I'm not using it for strip mine reclamation. I'm using it because it is a low maintenance way to break up larger fields into smaller sections for deer and to help restore our quail populations and for the role it plays with turkey poults. It has behaved fairly well for me but caution is always a good thing for non-natives.

Having said that, many of the annuals you have tired to plant suffer from being annuals. With the poor soil conditions, even if you can get them to grow, everything else needs to go right each year. With a perennial like bicolor, while it may be tough to get it started, once established, it will work on the soil for many years. I'm not really advocating for it, I just wanted to offer it as an option to consider. I researched it pretty deeply before I decided to plant it. That is where I ran across the information about how it is being used for strip mine reclamation.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[mglenn005]

Thanks for the input. I would prefer to get grasses growing big just haven’t had any luck, hence pines. The old mine areas that have pines have at least put enough pine needles on the ground to prevent erosion. I’ll look into BL, but am nervous about non natives.


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I don't blame you for being nervous about non-natives. Caution is certainly required. While Bicolor has worked well for me and it is often used for strip mine reclamation, I understand your concern. It is definitely worth talking to the local professionals about how it acts in your area. I'm not using it for strip mine reclamation. I'm using it because it is a low maintenance way to break up larger fields into smaller sections for deer and to help restore our quail populations and for the role it plays with turkey poults. It has behaved fairly well for me but caution is always a good thing for non-natives.

Having said that, many of the annuals you have tired to plant suffer from being annuals. With the poor soil conditions, even if you can get them to grow, everything else needs to go right each year. With a perennial like bicolor, while it may be tough to get it started, once established, it will work on the soil for many years. I'm not really advocating for it, I just wanted to offer it as an option to consider. I researched it pretty deeply before I decided to plant it. That is where I ran across the information about how it is being used for strip mine reclamation.

Thanks,

Jack

I really appreciate your insight.


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[MickT]

It looks like they made a mess all around you. The state works with a contractor here so it doesn’t matter how many properties the project is on. Might be able to get the neighbors in with you. It takes an incredible amount of work to make something resembling topsoil out of mine spoil.


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[mglenn005]

It looks like they made a mess all around you. The state works with a contractor here so it doesn’t matter how many properties the project is on. Might be able to get the neighbors in with you. It takes an incredible amount of work to make something resembling topsoil out of mine spoil.


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It’s crazy that this wildcat mine was only on the property that we own. They mined it many decades ago and really the soil in bad shape. I think they actually tried to smooth it out, but they didn’t plant anything and it eventually eroded pretty bad.


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