Red pine (Pinus resinosa): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Pinus resinosa Ait., pine family
Other names	Norway pine (Silvics and Wood Handbook)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	A medium-size tree; trees 97 cm (38 in) in diameter and 43 m (141 ft) tall in Michigan are among the largest living specimens
Age, Silvics	The oldest tree age recorded is 307 years, though a tree estimated at 400 years was measured
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	42 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 1, 1990) calls red pine one of the most extensively planted species in the northern United States and Canada. It says the tree is confined to the Northern Forest region and the southern fringe of the Boreal Forest, in a narrow zone about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The range runs from Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Maine west to central Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, south to southeastern Minnesota and east through Wisconsin, Michigan, southern Ontario, northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, with local occurrences in northern Illinois, eastern West Virginia and Newfoundland. The handbook says the northern limit closely follows a mean annual isotherm and is related to the length of the frost-free period.

It lists the uses of planted red pine as wood production, dune and sandblow control, snowbreaks, windbreaks and Christmas trees, and says that on sandy farmland in the Lake States narrow strips of three to eight rows have been planted to reduce wind erosion.

Cones and growth

Silvics describes red pine as monoecious, with flowers appearing between April and June, female flowers mostly in the middle third of the crown and purple male flowers in the lower crown. Cones take two seasons, and the handbook says insects, weather extremes and other agents may cause the loss of 60 percent of the cones between the first and second year of their development. Height growth on average Minnesota sites runs about 30 cm (12 in) a year for the first 50 years, more than 15 cm (6 in) a year between 50 and 100 years, and about 7.5 cm (3 in) a year for the next 30 years. After 150 years it says height growth almost stops, though diameter growth continues slowly for several years longer.

Roots

The handbook says seedlings may develop taproots 15 to 46 cm (6 to 18 in) long during the first summer, with early rooting depth helped by a water table within 1.2 m (4 ft) of the surface and a loose soil. Lateral growth usually outstrips vertical growth after the first year, and the root system of old trees is described as usually well developed, wide spreading and moderately deep, with numerous stout lateral roots and often a taproot.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) says the heartwood of red pine varies from pale red to reddish brown and the sapwood is nearly white with a yellowish tinge, generally 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) wide. It describes the wood as moderately heavy, moderately strong and stiff, moderately soft and moderately high in shock resistance; generally straight grained, somewhat resinous and not as uniform in texture as eastern white pine; with moderately high shrinkage but easy drying and good stability once dry. It says red pine is used principally for lumber, cabin logs and pulpwood, and to a lesser extent for piles, poles, posts and fuel, with lumber used mainly in building construction, including treated decking, siding and flooring, and in boxes, pallets and crates. Silvics describes the wood as lightweight, close-grained and pale reddish.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.41	5,800	340
At 12% moisture content	0.46	11,000	560

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests and diseases the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says red pine has had fewer serious enemies than most associated species under natural conditions, but is damaged by a number of agents, with more when grown on less acid, finer textured and more poorly drained soils than those it is adapted to. It names these agents by the names it used.

Red pine scale. Matsucoccus resinosae, which the handbook says, especially in the Northeast, kills or severely injures red pines from seedlings to mature trees.
Other insects. The Saratoga spittlebug, Zimmerman pine moth, red pine shoot moth, Allegheny mound ant, European pine shoot moth, which frequently deforms young trees, and white grubs that cut seedling roots.
Scleroderris canker. Gremmeniella abietina. The handbook says the North American strain has caused the loss of a number of young plantations in the Lake States and that the European strain has killed mature red pine in the Northeast.
Needle and tip diseases. Needle casts including Lophodermium pinastri and Scirrhia acicola, Sirococcus tip blight, Coleosporium asterum and sweetfern blister rust.
Root rots. Annosus root rot (Heterobasidion annosum) and shoestring root rot (Armillaria mellea), which cause death of trees in planted and natural stands.
Fire, weather and animals. Fire may kill trees in stands up to 21 m (69 ft) tall, ice, sleet and strong winds cause breakage, de-icing salt spray along highways has caused mortality, and spring flooding of 20 days kills red pine. Snowshoe hares, cottontails, deer and porcupines damage seedlings and larger trees.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.