Beth Sorry I mean't pine straw. It may be a regional thing, but there is a big market for pine straw around here and in Florida as bedding material or mulch. It had been traditionally been used as mulch for seedling beds for tobacco and other vegetable sets and roadside and lawn grass establishment, but in the last 10-15 years the market has really bloomed in it's use by homeowners. At first it started with ag fields retired under the CRP program, but now you see mexican crews raking the woods everywhere and semi-trailers set out all through the woods waiting to be loaded with bales of straw. The return on pine straw now is greater than pulpwood and many landowners are managing their stands for pine straw raking instead of pulpwood. And Slash and Longleaf are the premium product as the straw retains it's rich brown color for years as opposed to Loblolly which will break down in just a couple years.
Very little wheat straw is baled in GA and FL. Most farmers burn their wheat fields in the late spring after harvest. It is a headache for the fire agencies as it used to be a major cause of wildfires in April and May. Ag burning has been traditionally exempted from burning permits laws as they were enacted. I will say it has gotten better the past few years as these landowners started planting their unirrigated field edges in pines and realized they were burning up their profits through careless burning. WF On Oct 3, 8:03 pm, Beth Koebel <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey Will, > > What are you refering to when you talk about straw? I only know about the > straw from wheat fields. > > Beth > > Trees are the answer.--bumper sticker from Illinois Forest Association > > --- On Thu, 10/1/09, Will Fell <[email protected]> wrote: > In recent years > the trend has reversed with many former ag fields being planted in > slash under the CRP program in anticipated of the burgeoning straw > market. Slash produces much superior straw than Loblolly. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
