FORESTRY FOCUS:  Specialty Forest Products

by Jim Willis

August 3, 2000  

As the growing of tobacco becomes more and more limited, many farmers will be looking for alternative crops.  Timber and trees can provide an excellent income supplement, but often require a long time frame from establishment.  However, there are some excellent opportunities for the person who has existing timber stands or who gets involved with specialty products. 

There are a number of specialty forest products.  Many people lease hunting rights or fishing rights.  Grapevines, herbs such as ginseng, goldenseal, and Mayapple, and short rotation trees like paulownia have been harvested and sold for many years.  These will probably be covered in later articles.  However, the newest and most profitable crop is “pine tipping or “pine roping”. 

In simple terms pine roping is a rope formed from pine branches, which have been cut from the “tips” of lower limbs.  The strand is used to make Christmas wreaths, ropes, and garlands.  Several species of evergreens have been used, but the most common is white pine, which is a native plant commonly grown in southwestern Virginia.  Harvesting can begin when white pine trees are about seven years old and usually continues through age 11 or 12.  Buyers prefer stands, which are at least 5 acres in size (depending on where they are), and they must be accessible by truck.  Trees grown on sandstone-based soils are preferable to limestone-based soils because they seem to hold their color later into the autumn. 

Economics for growing white pine are excellent.  A typical cycle would start with planting 400 to 500 trees per acre in year one.  Cost would be about $80-$100. per acre for old-field land.  Remember that many counties have government cost share programs to retire (plant) erodible farm land.  These can significantly reduce establishment costs. 

At age 7, harvesting can begin.  Lower limbs are thinned and tips are collected during October, November, or December.  Expected yields would be around 5,000 pounds per acre, depending on soil quality.   After the initial harvest, trees could either be tipped annually or harvested more heavily every other year.  This would continue until age 11 or 12.  At that point, the trees will have become too big to cut tips.  They may either be cut down and replanted or left to grow sawtimber, which could be harvested when trees are about 35 to 40 years old.  (The government cost share would probably not be available for the 11-year cut and replant option.)           

Selling pine tipping material can be just as complicated as selling timber.  Some buyers prefer to buy by the pound; others pay by the acre or by the boundary.  Expected returns would be $400 to $500 per acre for the 6-year harvesting period.  As with selling timber, it is generally best to take bids from several buyers, sell by the boundary, ask for money up front, and use a contract.  It is also possible to purchase equipment and prepare one’s own wreaths, but marketing and selling adds several additional complicating factors to the profit mix.

Future markets for pine tipping seem to be excellent.  At last count, there were 20 known buyers, mostly located in Carol and Grayson Counties, as well as the Boone, NC area.   Their annual harvest requires 2,600 acres of white pine and seems to be growing.  Recent planting records show only 500 to 700 acres are being planted in southwestern Virginia each year.