The info I've seen generally gives it as a dry site species. You'd probably do better trying Pond Pine Pinus serotina and Spruce Pine Pinus glabra (both native in Alabama, tho' Pond Pine only in the southeast).

Resin

Loblolly pine is native to loblollies (moist clay depressions) and more handsome than shortleaf pine.

Loblolly pine is probably the least hurricane resistant pine around here, they snap like toothpicks. I usually get rid of the ones I find because they're so weedy.

I'm not positive those Slash pines are rust infected, but I know I saw a swollen spot on the stems of two of them. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow. These are supposed to be "improved" rust resistant seedlings, for whatever that's worth.

I can attest that Pond pine grows well in sloppy clay w/standing water during the wettest periods. Yes, Pond pine in west MD. Looks like Loblolly w/slightly longer, coarser needles & thicker stems.

Does this look like a canker? I'm pretty sure it is, but want to make sure before I remove them.

Stem gall? Won't the tree grow around that eventually?

"Won't the tree grow around that eventually?"

Not if it turns out to be Fusiform Rust. But there's no rust sporulation visible, so it might not be that (unless it is in an immature non-sporulating stage).

Resin

The property next to my home is a 30 year old Slash pine plantation, and many of the trees in that stand have some very ugly fusiform rust cankers, so I'm pretty sure that's what this is.

A local nursery has a good deal on some Bald Cypress right now, so I think I'm just going to replace these pines with those since that area is low and wet anyways. I may try to make a little grove with them, and maybe some wetland shrubs like Cyrilla racemiflora and dwarf palmetto underneath.

This what the canker looks like on an older tree, this tree is probably 20 years old. I never have seen the yellow spores.

Loblloly pine is one of the tallest pine species of the eastern US - apparently they don't all snap off.

I prefer the look of the Shortleaf pine to that of the Loblolly, but they're both good looking trees. Most Shortleaf I've noted grow on slopes and drier spots. Will look next time I'm over in Louisiana, but can't think of a time when I've seen them growing in wetter spots as Loblolly do. The Shortleaf is less affected by snow and ice when compared to the Loblolly.

Alabamatreehugger,

What about Montezuma cypress? Rennerwood Tree Farm from east Texas have them and supposedly ships them to customers. I think that's where my brother got trees from. Worth a try if you want to try something different that grows much faster than BCs and stay more evergreen into the winter. Would be a good test to see how MCs do compared to BCs there for the fun of it. Supposedly the seed source is from Stephen F Austin State University where I collected MC cones in the past and they seem to produce consistent nice looking MCs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rennerwood

Lou, is that a wholesale only nursery?

I did plant some Bald Cypress to replace the rust infected Slash pines. They were a little root bound, but some corrective surgery fixed that. ;)