Dean Forestry Services

03/16/2026

If you look at the end of a pine tree branch this time of year, you might see these conical structures. What are they? Most of them, the ones that resemble ears of corn 🌽, are developing male pollen cones. These will soon mature and release their pollen into the breeze, coating the world in “yellow chalk dust.” Because pine trees rely on random chance for pollination, and don’t use a courier service like bees or butterflies, they must release a ton of pollen for some of it to reach a young female cone and fertilize its eggs.

The conical structure with brown spikes on the right is something different. It’s the end of the tree branch and is covered in developing pine needles. The needles are starting to emerge as new growth.

Take a look at some pine trees this time of year and it won’t take you long to find these structures. 🌲

02/10/2026

Does a lightning strike 🌩 ⚡️ always kill a tree? No! Take a look at how deep this lightning burn is on this loblolly pine. The crown isn't healthy, it looks stressed, but the tree is still alive and the scar is healing over. What a deep scar the lighting made!

02/01/2026

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01/05/2026

A new tax year is underway. If you're thinking about selling your timber but have questions or doubts, contact us. We offer advice, help with decision making and planning, timber appraisals, and we also offer marketing services to sell your timber on your behalf on a commission basis, similar to how a Realtor assists with the sale of a home. Newton, Lauderdale, and surrounding counties. We are Mississippi Registered Foresters.

01/03/2026

Driving down a forested road in winter, you might see patches of trees that have retained their light yellowish-brown leaves. These trees are often young American Beech (Fagus grandifolia). It’s a common native tree in moist forests across the eastern US.

So why do American Beech retain their leaves in winter (the technical term for this is marcescence)? There are several hypotheses, one of which is that old beech leaves cover up the buds and twigs, particularly on young trees and on the lower branches (see pics in comments). This may deter browsing by White-tailed Deer relative to deciduous trees that drop their leaves. Sounds like an interesting study, I guess you’d just have to check the deer’s browsing history. 😉🦌

12/23/2025

11/13/2025

This time of year, it’s fun to look at newly fallen leaves and figure out what tree they come from. The leaves on this park bench are from four of our common oak trees in the Piedmont. From left to right they are: White Oak (Quercus alba), Post Oak (Q. stellata), Northern Red Oak (Q. rubra), and Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata). For scale, the Virginia Pine needles on the bench are 1-1.5 inch long. Here’s how you can tell these leaves apart:

White Oak - like other members of the white oak group, the leaves have rounded lobes that lack bristly tips. The number of lobes is variable, ranging from 7 - 10 and they can show considerable variation, being shallow or deep, depending on the leaf. White Oaks also hybridize with Post Oaks and Swamp Chestnut Oaks, which adds to the leaf variation. White Oaks are probably the most common oak you’ll see here in the southern piedmont. They’re native to the eastern US in both uplands and bottomlands.

Post Oak - a member of the white oak group, so notice the rounded lobes that lack bristles. Post Oaks have 5 lobes that form a Maltese Cross shape. The leaves have a leathery texture as well. Post Oaks are native to the southeast in dry, rocky soils.

Northern Red Oak - like other members of the red oak group, it has pointed lobes with bristly tips. The leaves get wider past the midpoint and have 7 - 11 shallow lobes. Northern Red Oaks will hybridize with Black Oaks, leading to some confusion with leaf identification. Northern Red Oaks are found in bottomlands and ravines across much of the eastern US but they are absent from the Coastal Plain. Northern Red Oaks are more common in the north, where they contribute to the beautiful scarlet colors of autumn in New England.

Southern Red Oak or Spanish Oak - it’s a red oak, so notice the pointy lobes with bristles. There’s quite a bit of variation to leaf shape in this species (see post in comments), but look for a U-shaped base where it joins the leaf stalk (petiole). The last lobe at the end of the leaf tends to be long and narrow with 3 bristly tips. The underside of the leaves have rusty hairs as well. Southern Red Oaks are common across the southeast in dry uplands.

09/15/2025

Post Oak (Quercus stellata) leaves have 5 lobes that form a Maltese Cross shape. The leaves have a leathery texture and a glossy sheen that shimmered in tonight’s sunset. On the underside of its leaves are lots of forked, somewhat star-shaped, trichomes (hairs). This is the origin of the specific epithet of its scientific or botanical name (stellata = star-shaped in Latin).

Post Oaks are native to the southeast in dry upland forests, piedmont prairies, and oak savannahs. Its common name ‘Post’ Oak comes from the use of its rot-resistant wood for fence posts.

08/22/2025

Do you have a question or concern with your trees? We offer advice and appraisals, management options for now and the future, and we can assist you with the selling of the timber on your property. We are Mississippi Registered Foresters, a father & son consulting partnership, with decades of experience in an ever-changing industry. Many landowners may have only one large timber sale in their lifetime, please take the time to seek out advice from a Forester.

04/27/2025

Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) is flowering in roadsides and woodland edges. It was unfortunately introduced as an ornamental tree back in the 1800s and has since escaped into natural areas across the southern half of the United States. Chinaberry or Pride of India fruits at a young age (just 4-5 years) and can form dense monocultures that outcompete our native plants. As a consequence of these features, it’s listed as an invasive tree in most southeastern states. Large clusters of sticky yellow fruits appear in late summer and are retained through the winter. Songbirds eat the fruits and disperse the seeds to new habitats.

See the comments for management tips.

04/27/2025

What is needle blight? Needle blights are fungal diseases that can affect conifers. Some easily viewed symptoms may appear as chlorosis (yellowing), brown-red spots/bands, and needle necrosis. Multiple years of infection may result in tree mortality.