Containerized seedlings should be planted with a cylinder-type dibble. Depending on your objectives, a survival of 500 to 900 seedlings per acre after the first growing season is a good goal. A lower stocking may be acceptable for some objectives, such as wildlife habitat. If not, they may plant leftover seedlings in the gaps, causing you problems with your funding. Once seedlings are planted, the principal factors affecting seedling development are vegetative competition and brown-spot needle blight.
Prescribed fire is the most common cultural treatment used to control both.
Seedlings in the early stages of height growth are most susceptible to fire kill, especially when heavily infected by brown-spot. Due to recent increases in seed costs, this once cost-effective regeneration option is now potentially expensive, and it involves substantial risk. Failure can occur as a result of inadequate control of competing vegetation, low seeding rates, using seed not treated with bird or rodent repellent, seeding at the wrong time, or adverse weather conditions. Low, poorly drained sites that are likely to be covered with standing water a week or more after seeding should be avoided. Likewise, deep upland sands that dry out rapidly after a rain are also unsuitable for direct seeding.