Soil tillage for site preparation in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations in the upper Coastal Plain of the Southeast USA can increase growth. Poor root growth due to high soil bulk density can limit overall plant growth and survival. Direct quantification of the effect of tillage on soil rooting volume, however, has not been possible. For this research, 3D soil electrical resistivity (SER) imaging was used in an effort to directly estimate plant soil moisture utilization as a surrogate for rooting volume. SER is sensitive to soil moisture conditions and thus it might be possible to quantify changes in soil moisture drawdown through a soil volume in response to tillage. An existing experiment, planted in 2004, was used to assess soil moisture drawdown in a 2x8x2 m soil volume between a non-tilled (NT) control treatment and coulter+bedding+subsoil (CBS) treatment (n=3). Volumetric water content (VWC) for the 0-30 cm layer was measured using time domain reflectometry (TDR) and SER over the soil volume was measured with an electrical resistivity meter using a 28 probe configuration spaced 1 m apart. SER measures were taken on five dates over 2005 and 2006; moisture measures were taken on four dates. Resistivity was well correlated with VWC. For NT, R² ranged from 0.58 to 0.66 and for CBS, R² ranged from 0.33 to 0.53. In CBS, the strength of this relationship varied between bed (R² = 0.12 to 0.40) and interbed (R² = 0.50 to 0.74) locations. Over all dates, the average modeled resistivity values for the entire soil volume were higher in NT than in CBS, although these differences were not significant (p > 0.05). Using 3D resistivity, greater moisture utilization could not be inferred in CBS relative to NT.