Stone pines: wet feet?

My 5 each of 2 pinus cembra variety seedlings and 5 pinus koraiensis are arriving tomorrow, and I'm not sure where to plant them. Would anybody share some observations as to what they grow well with, what conditions they like, and what if any inoculants they used in planting? I'll also check Edible Forest Gardens which had some thumbnail info if I remember correctly.

I'm thinking of putting them in full sun (after I thin the canopy of alder some), planted into a wettish area of predominantly alder and salmonberry with the occasional bitter cherry. Thoughts?

Pines typically dislike wet feet, but there are variations in species. I know the Italian stone pine is adapted to stony and drought-prone mountainsides, and suspect that it would suffer or even keel over in wet or boggy conditions.

Those species will not do well and may not even survive a wet area. Pines are fire resistant trees, they typically live in fairly dry conditions to almost border arid spaces.

If you only have a wettish area then you can build up an area to plant them but you want to find a space that has good drainage, usually pines are found in nature in fairly sandy, well draining soils, some even grow in rock formations so their roots don't sit in damp conditions.

Redhawk

Thanks! I thought I'd read that stone pines liked damp, but since i couldn't remember where, I asked!

It's fine, not everything here is wet. There is a sandy steep hillside they could be planted on as well. I figure sandy and steep are best for drainage here, and I don't suppose the slope would bother them.

Stone pines can tolerate some damp root periods but not a steady diet.
Trees will adapt as they grow to all sorts of steepness, I've seen them on slopes over 50 degrees.

I dug around on the large hill in front of my property, and it turns out it is at least 40% sandy loam in the spots dug. Madrona, which I have seen growing in sandy soils close to water, is present on my property only on this hill. I think it's good for my Swiss and Korean Stone pines. Better than the clay and silt elsewhere.

I looked up inoculants to use with them, since they arrived today. it seems that these trees normally grow with Suillus SPP fungi. This inoculant contains this fungus, but I am also wondering about the impacts of spreading inoculants around. I have a 2-stroke backpack sprayer I was planning to use for biodynamic preparations and compost teas.

https://www.kelp4less.com/shop/mycorrhizae-and-inoculants/

this preparation has a bunch of other stuff in it. Although I have heard geoff Lawton talk about inoculants, it's never specific, even down to specific ingredients, never mind brands.

I haven't looked for threads on inoculants yet, I'm sure there must be some.

There are several companies that make good inoculants, it would be unfair to say one is better than the others.
I have only tried the Fungi Perfecti product, but I have ordered from two other mushroom folks to try theirs out, I expect all to work about the same.

The reason I don't mention bacteria inoculants is because bacteria are everywhere, breathe, you just inhaled bacteria.
Fungi are the organisms we really want to know which of we are installing into our soil, get the fungi right and they will sort out the bacteria for you by eating the badguys.

I would use your inoculant around your tree's drip line and you can also broadcast it over your garden plots or beds.

Redhawk