Red Pine Wind Blow Over

[Brwidrick96]

I'm new to the board and am beginning the process of clearing some trees in a wooded lot to build a house. I want to keep as many trees trees as possible without having my house in danger of having a tree fall on it in the future. Its almost all decent sized red pine. My question is whether or not red pine ever blows over in high wind or if it's a sturdy tree that I don't need to worry about. I want to keep as many trees as possible. Should I clear everything within 50 feet of the house? More? Less? Thanks for your help! 

[randy d]

Yes red pine will blow over in a wind storm especially in sandy soil.

[barbender]

Red pine will blow over, but it's pretty sturdy. Younger than say 40 years, they tend to bend over rather than break. Older trees tend to either uproot, or snap about 2/3 of the way up. It takes a pretty serious windstorm to damage red pine unless it has been over thinned or something. I would still probably clear a good 100' around my building.

[Ron Scott]

 
Yes it will blow down.  A 80 year old red pine plantation just before its second thinning after an August 2018 wind storm.
 

[Brwidrick96]

OK, Thank you for the info. I'll be sure to clear a good distance from where the house will be!

[Southside]

A good rule of thumb when working in the woods is to leave a safety radius of at least 2 times the height of the trees you are felling, might be a good guide in this case so you don't encounter a domino effect where one topples into another which then hits your house.  

[barbender]

Ron, if that Red pine was just scheduled for a second entry thin, that didn't help it stand up to the wind any I'd imagine.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, that's a good rule.

[Ron Scott]

Barbender, yes that stand as well as many of the hardwoods in the area could not stand up to the heavy winds encountered. The stand was quite wind firm under normal weather conditions though.
 

[barbender]

Those poley red pine stands do fine, until you thin them. We have a lot of undermanaged pine stands- small private pieces from a pine planting boom 50-70 years ago. A lot of them have never been thinned, and we'd be hard pressed to thin them with ctl equipment without overthinning them and having windthrow at this point.

[thecfarm]

Brwidrick96,good luck with the house. And welcome to the forum. You building the house yourself?

[Tarm]

Research has been done on the windfirmness of conifers. If the total height of the tree is greater than 75-80 times the diameter then the tree is at risk of blowing down if the stand is thinned heavily. A red pine 6" in diameter(.5 feet) and 40 feet tall would have a windfirmness ratio of 80 and would be at risk of blowdown if thinned.