Guidelines for Estimating Cone and Seed Yields of Southern Pines
Abstract
Our ability to predict cone and seed yields of southern pines (Pinus spp.) prior to collection is important when scheduling and allocating resources. Many managers have enough historical data to predict their orchards' yield; but such data are generally unavailable for some species and for collections outside of orchards. Guidelines are presented to allow prediction of cones per tree, to convert numbers of cones to bushels, to estimate numbers of seeds per cone, and to convert numbers of seeds per bushel to pounds of seeds per bushel. Once we have these data, crop prediction is a straightforward process.