What should I set aside per acre to have a hardwood clearcut replanted in Loblolly pines? Spraying, planting, seedlings... The whole nine yards. The tract will be roughly 20 acres.
Any recommendations would be appreciated as well.
Near Tallassee

I paid 78.00 per acre labor to plant and paid 55.00 per acre for the seedlings.... was 6 acres and total for planting was 798.00
theres other costs that go into it as well ...like dozer fee for cutting fire lanes , spraying cutover . then the burning fee and they might have a dozer there while they burn......my costs for that stuff was about 1300.00....so all in at about 2 grand....that was 3 years ago.

I would not replant. I'd let it regenerate if it's not completely privet/kudzu. You won't get anyone to come back and cut 20 acres in pines in 25+ years. Too small.

Around 250$/ac

If you can wait longer (a good bit more than loblolly)
you need to talk with your area NRCS about long leafs.
You may add 15 or so extra years until cutting, though.

That is a good figure. I budget $300/acre for chemical site prep, burning and planting.

Remington270 has a good point also. You will probably have to "piggyback" a timber sale with your neighbors. The cost of moving equipment makes small timber tracts hard sells.

$250-$300 If you are farming out all of the work and not planning to have any dozer work. John Motes has done mechanical planting for me in the past along with some windrowing. I would recommend him but you will need to get on his list as soon as possible.

Long leafs are definitely pretty, but I personally when looking at ROI I couldn't justify going that route. I am however planning to plant a small section (4 acres) of a clearcut in long leafs maybe this winter or next just to see how they do.

I have done all of my spraying my self so I don't have any recommendations.

Timber companies will come to do small tracts I had 6 acres clear cut and 10 acres thinned then the 6 replanted . I had no trouble getting a company to do it.

At $4-$5 per ton for pine here it’s really not even worth it anymore.

Well 20 years from now may change 😁

Oh, it's going to change! May be better, may be worse, but it is going to change. One advantage timber has over row cropping is it doesn't HAVE to be harvested immediately. You can wait 6 months, 2 years, whatever to try to time the market. Nobody knows, but I'm not overly confident on timber investment. I'm trying to convert some back to fields with each cutting. And there isn't an easy, cheap, quick way of doing that. I'm I right or wrong??? Damnedifiknow!!

Anything we got that could be pasture or rowcrop is...everything else is planted in pines hilly terrain n such...

Conecuh County

Fire breaks-spray-burn- hand plant Loblolly

$ 263/acre

Less than two years ago

If the landowner is getting $4-5/ton where you are that’s 4X more than he’s getting here. If I could sell any for $5/ton I’d be sticking it on a truck.

Landowners in my area get $5 a ton for pine pulpwood an usually $15 for chip n saw an $20 a ton for sawtimber . Gotta thin at 14 yrs old to grow sawtimber at 28yrs old. Usually thin out 75 tons per acre. Should get landowner $375 -$400 per acre at 14 yrs old. clearcut at 28-30yr. I’ve seen stand produce 100 tons or more per acre of sawtimber. Average price in Alabama is $20-24 per ton for sawtimber for landowner. That get landowner $2400 per acre + the $400 for thinning your looking at $2800 profit per acre - the $250 for site prep an planting . That over 28 yr time frame. That how it works in my area. But this prices go up an down over time. Winter time better prices because mills are low. Seen pulpwood $$34 a ton an sawtimber at $70 a ton but that yrs ago. In 28 yr you never know. It’s all supply and demand. Hardwood prices totally different deal.

I know a guy that was offered $8 on pine pulp, $12.50 for hard pulp, $25 for 8" top pine swt and $22.00 for 7" top no butt min and $50 for the poles a couple of weeks ago. Haul distances makes a lot of difference in prices.

To answer the question..... I am faced with this exact situation now. We cut 70 acres last spring. Quoted $130 ish to spray and replant per acre. That was 5 or so months ago. Last week told that it would cost $215 acre. That’s more than a $5k difference. He said prices soared. Apparently so. Because our other quote wasn’t far off. I guess they have enough work right now that they can jack the prices up. $80 difference per acre. That is spray and plant. Sucks, but gotta replant it and from experience....really gotta spray it

300 an acre. Might not spend that much. I disagree on letting it regenerate, especially if you have adjacent timber that can be combined in a sale. I clearcut 15 acres and thinned another 10 about four years ago, and had no trouble getting someone to do it. If you have good access to the tract and not far from the sale point, you will be fine.

You have to get a written quote on the prices of planting, just like timber harvest. It is going to depend on how many acres you have to plant, what kind of cocktail chemical mixture the forester thinks is needed, is it going to need burned after spraying, amount of fire lanes needed, what kind of seedlings you need, how many seedlings per acre you are gong to plant and if it is a hand planting or machine planting,

The difficulty he will find is getting someone to site prep it. If I had it to do all over again, I would have had the timber company row it and burn it. Would have cost me a little extra, but sure goes a long way toward a good site prep. Or if not, row it, then spread it back out and burn it. It's hard to get someone to do a chemical spray for 15-20 acres. It's expensive also because there are minimums.