# Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida)

> Pitch pine, Pinus rigida: a medium tree of 40 to 80 feet for zones 4 to 7, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/pitch-pine/

![A broad, irregular pitch pine with a dense crown standing alone on a sandy heath under a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/pitch-pine-1000.jpg?v=bedf2ed9 "A pitch pine in the Quogue Village Wetlands Preserve, New York, on October 29, 2022. Its cones ripen in September of their second year.")
*Photo: Rhododendrites, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APitch_pine_in_Quogue_(92734p).jpg))*

Medium tree, 40 to 80 feet, zones 4 to 7; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow pitch pine, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Pitch Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Torch pine, candlewood pine, northern pitch pine |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 80 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 50 |
| Zones | 4 to 7 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, salt tolerant |
| Pollen | April to May |
| Fruit | Cones, August to December |
| First crop | 8 to 12 years (open-grown trees; sprouts bear at 3 to 4) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and is mostly cross-pollinated by the wind, and seed a lone tree sets with its own pollen can give weak seedlings. |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 450 years, and the oldest dated one reached 398. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Sandy barrens, the Appalachians, the coast, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 19 states and the District of Columbia |

Pitch pine is native in 19 states and the District of Columbia: [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN) and [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=pitch-pine): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=pitch-pine:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Redbay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/redbay/index.html.md) (*Persea borbonia*): medium tree, 30 to 60 feet, zones 7 to 10. Shares sandy barrens, the coast, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Pond Pine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pond-pine/index.html.md) (*Pinus serotina*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 7 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, the coast, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Pond Cypress](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pond-cypress/index.html.md) (*Taxodium ascendens*): medium tree, 30 to 70 feet, zones 5 to 10. Shares the coast, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Atlantic White Cedar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/atlantic-white-cedar/index.html.md) (*Chamaecyparis thyoides*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares the coast, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Balsam Fir](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-fir/index.html.md) (*Abies balsamea*): medium tree, 40 to 75 feet, zones 2 to 7. Shares the Appalachians, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Loblolly Bay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/loblolly-bay/index.html.md) (*Gordonia lasianthus*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 7 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Every companion of pitch pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=pitch-pine)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service, the University of Georgia's forestry school and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.