About a half-hour drive from the nearest gas station at the Sussex-Southampton County line, a bustling Virginia Department of Forestry operation produces 32 million pine seedlings annually for landowners throughout Virginia and beyond.

Further north in Augusta County, its sister center grows, processes and ships a popular variety of hardwood seedlings, providing a plethora of species to beautify landscapes and serve landowners.

Both nurseries are state entities that are entirely self-funded and employ dozens of part-time and seasonal workers.

The VDOF seedling program has been active for more than a century, restoring millions of acres of Virginia forestland. Former first lady Dorothy McAuliffe helped harvest the second billionth tree seedling in 2017 to mark the nurseries’ 100th anniversary.

The Garland Gray Center in Sussex was built in 1984 specifically to grow loblolly and some longleaf pine. It is named for the late Sen. Garland Gray, a lumberman from the area. The nearby Nottoway River provides irrigation for the pine seed beds.

Josh Bennicoff, manager of the Sussex center, said the 80 acres of baby loblolly are the future of Virginia’s woods.

Center focuses on pines

“Loblolly is the key pine species in all the South,” Bennicoff said. “The nursery soil looks like sand, designed to aid in lifting a tree without hurting the roots.”

Landowners intent on reforestation typically plant about 500 trees per acre, usually by hand.

“I have about 10 planting contractors who buy several million each, but we sell to individual landowners also,” Bennicoff said. “We always sell out of our seedlings every year. And what we produce in a year will cover about 60,000 acres.”

Loblolly genetics are fine-tuned for desirable qualities through careful selection at a VDOF seed orchard. The official Pine Rating System classifies the productivity of the seedlings, which are sold as premium, elite and Virginia’s best. Bennicoff said a natural loblolly is crooked, and trees bred for straightness are ideal for lumber production.

Planted-pine rotation for logging purposes is somewhere between 15 and 50 years. However, that timeline is shortened for pulp and chip producers, who can get two plantings in a similar timeframe.

After seedlings are lifted by a team, the roots are dipped in protective clay, and the young trees are kept in cold storage until they’re ready for grading. After that, they are weighed and wrapped in approximate 1,000-count bundles. While most of the plantings are bare-root, some loblolly and longleaf pine are grown as containerized seedlings.

“We’re all about production, quality and quantity,” Bennicoff said. “The Augusta [Forestry] Center is trying to capture a smaller market. They’ll do large orders, but the orders for hardwood are typically for smaller quantities.”

Hardwoods, softwood populate Augusta center

Nearly 40 species of Virginia hardwoods and softwoods are grown in seedbeds covering 100 acres in Augusta County adjacent to the South River. This center handles the VDOF’s delivery program, which offers tree seedlings, conservation specialty packs and seed mixtures. Customers can browse inventory and submit orders at buyvatrees.com.

While many customers aim to beautify their property, McLaughlin said others purchase trees for carbon or phosphorus credit mitigation, strip and coal mine reclamation, reforestation and habitat enhancement.

“Someone might just want to buy 10 redbuds to plant in their quarter-acre lot,” he said. “We want to appeal to every group.”

The website helps customers identify species that will suit their needs.

For McLaughlin, the hustle is not about greenbacks-it’s about a greener Virginia.

“We just want people to plant trees,” he said.