Victor Beadles
President, Beadles Lumber Company, Moultrie, GA

I am involved in companies producing over 100 million board feet of pine lumber in South Georgia, as well as a utility pole business. These companies supply large volumes of pulpwood and chips to several paper companies. At least weekly for the past 40 years I have to evaluate tracts of timber my foresters have presented to me for bids. One of my first questions is about the quality of timber and the second one is about the species. Since we have primarily produced dimension lumber (2 x 4s through 2 x 12s), an emphasis on what timber produces the best yields and grades for this lumber has always been paramount in our evaluations.

The higher grades of lumber in this dimension are a reflection of the density (measured by annual ring count and percentage of summerwood), and other factors contributing to strength. Engineered wood trusses are a large market for dense, strong Southern Pine. A recent innovation is MSR lumber (Machine Stress Rated) which measures specific gravity and other strength factors of the lumber. To receive the higher stress rating needed for longer spans in trusses it is a known fact that longleaf pine, with a high percentage of summerwood, higher specific gravity, etc., will produce more MSR and dense lumber (other factors being equal) than loblolly. We find that loblolly tends to have more and larger limbs and more fusiform rust, creating what we call "cankers" that will lower lumber grades and yields. For these reasons, we usually bid less (or not at all) on loblolly pine stands.

There are other reasons we find loblolly not as desirable. Typically the longleaf is a straighter tree with a higher form class, and this gives us more lumber yield per volume of logs. This straightness allows us to make lumber in longer lengths without sacrificing yields. These long lengths are necessary for the truss markets. These characteristics of longleaf also produce a quality utility pole where we find that very often loblolly does not (straightness, form class, and strength again being factors).

One of the particular paper companies to whom we sell our pulpwood and chips have found loblolly will give them very low yields of their primary products and also low by-product production. They do not plant loblolly and try not to buy any on the open market. loblolly pine is also more susceptible to pine beetle damage then longleaf. We have also found that longleaf pine straw is in greater demand than loblolly. Naturally, however, there are areas and sites where loblolly should be the preferred tree to grow.

The Southern Pine lumber market has lost much market share of its 1" production (boards) to radiata pine and much of its #2 common grades of 2" lumber to other imported species. The market for higher strength, dense wood from timber like longleaf is a niche we hope to preserve. We Southern Pine manufacturers must produce what the market demands and with any competitive advantage we can offer over other species.

At one of our plants, all of our 2" lumber passes through our MSR machine, and we rarely find lumber from loblolly that meets the requirements to be graded as MSR. Young timber and juvenile wood from all species of yellow pine typically fails also. Naturally, there can be exceptions to all this and we have found many stands of mature loblolly better and more valuable than some stands of longleaf. But, don't make the mistake of not recognizing the inherent qualities of longleaf pine from a buyer's or manufacturer's perspective.