# Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)

> The great pine of the southern sandhills, with needles up to 18 inches long and a grass stage that hides it for years, for sun and dry, sandy ground.

Also called longstraw pine, longleaf yellow pine, Georgia pine. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/longleaf-pine/

![Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) young tree with a dense tuft of long needles and a pale candle bud](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/longleaf-pine-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 3.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APinus_palustris_01%2C_Reed_Bingham_State_Park.JPG)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 60 to 120 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 10
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens and dry uplands
- Native range: 9 states, north to Virginia, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia). Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Evergreen, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Salt tolerant, Winter interest, Erosion control
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Longleaf pine once ruled an estimated 74 million acres of the South, in open woods and savannas kept by frequent fire. Logging, turpentining, hogs and fire exclusion cut it to about 3 million acres by the 1990s. Restoration has since brought it back to about 4.4 million. It is endangered on the IUCN Red List, and Virginia ranks it critically imperiled. Red-cockaded woodpeckers dig their nest holes in living trees. It is the state tree of North Carolina. Its buds are silvery white in winter, and on dry, infertile deep sand it is a top choice for replanting to check erosion. Give it room to stand in the open for centuries, in a lawn, a meadow or a sandhill garden with turkey oak.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Longleaf pine spends 2 to 15 years in a grass stage, a tuft of needles at ground level while the taproot grows. The stage commonly lasts 5 to 7 years. Our growth estimator uses a medium rate, a foot and a half a year, to allow for the grass stage. It matures at 60 to 120 feet with a crown 30 to 40 feet wide.

Cones come 20 to 30 years after the grass stage ends, or at 9 to 10 years on fertile old fields. Pollen is shed from late February to early April, and the cones ripen in September and October of their second year. The seed falls from mid-October through November. Fox squirrels, quail and turkeys eat the seed. One tree dated by its rings lived 458 years.

It grows wild from southeastern Virginia to central Florida and west to eastern Texas, on sandhills, flatwoods and savannas. It has also been recorded in Arkansas, where it is not native and may have been planted.

## How to grow Longleaf Pine

Longleaf pine needs full sun and a deep, acid soil that drains well, sand best of all. Once established it needs no watering, and it stands drought better than any other southern pine. Where irrigation water is alkaline, its needles yellow. Keep it away from drives and walks, where its falling needles, cones and sap make a mess and its roots can crack asphalt. Beyond its native range it seldom does well. Plant it 20 feet from a wall, and set trees 30 feet apart. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Potted longleaf survives planting better than bare-root stock, and nearly all its seedlings are now grown in containers. Plant between November and March while the soil is moist, with the root collar at the soil line. The seed sprouts within weeks of falling, so sow it in fall as soon as it arrives. Press it into bare, moist soil and scatter a little pine straw over it.

Water in dry spells through the first year. Keep grass and weeds off a circle at least 30 inches across, since competition can hold a seedling in the grass stage for 15 years. Hogs root up the seedlings and can wipe out a planting. It needs no pruning.

Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen, but a lone tree tends to set less seed than trees in a group. Brown spot needle blight is the chief disease of seedlings in the grass stage, and burning the dead grass in winter controls it. Grown trees resist most pests and diseases, though bark beetles attack trees struck by lightning or stressed by drought. It is the most wind-firm southern pine but breaks under ice.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Longleaf Pine, Willis and others 2026](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/longleaf-pine)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Pinus palustris, Carey 1992](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/pinpal/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008): Pinus chapter, Krugman and Jenkinson](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Pinus.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 2: Pinus palustris](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200005348)
- [UF/IFAS Extension: Pinus palustris: Longleaf Pine, ENH-628/ST469, Gilman and Watson](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST469)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Pinus palustris](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pinus-palustris/)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Longleaf pine](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs_pipa2.pdf)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Pinus palustris](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PIPA2)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: longleaf pine](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=107)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Pinus palustris](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pinus/pinus-palustris/)
- [Virginia Tech, Eastern OLDLIST of maximum tree ages: Pinus palustris](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/olds/detail.cfm?genus=Pinus&species=palustris)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Pinus palustris](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152746/Pinus_palustris)
- [Virginia Division of Natural Heritage: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia, Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf)
- [American Conifer Society: Pinus palustris](https://conifersociety.org/conifers/pinus-palustris/)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Pinus palustris](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/PIPA2)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [A year-by-year care calendar for a newly planted tree, from the day it arrives to its fifth spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/care-calendar-for-a-new-tree/index.html.md)
- [Seed source and provenance: why where the parent tree grew decides how yours will do](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/seed-source-and-provenance/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Longleaf Pine, add ?species=longleaf-pine with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=longleaf-pine&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Longleaf Pine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=longleaf-pine): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=longleaf-pine
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Longleaf Pine is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=longleaf-pine
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Longleaf Pine needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=longleaf-pine:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Longleaf Pine flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.