Trees for Windbreaks?

SwampDonkey · March 30, 2015, 05:24:15 AM

Norways are pretty tough, but we have lots of natural spruce to. You leave a field alone around here and spruce and aspen take over. ;D

Woodhauler · March 30, 2015, 08:29:44 AM

My guess is if he plants them under the power lines they won't live long!!! The state still sprays the roadsides to kill brush and thepower company will cut them as soon as they see them. If they are under the power lines its not your property anyhow. Measure the distance from the center of the road that the road right of vway is then you can plant them.

kwendt · March 30, 2015, 01:25:22 PM

Quote from: Woodhauler on March 30, 2015, 08:29:44 AM
My guess is if he plants them under the power lines they won't live long!!! The state still sprays the roadsides to kill brush and thepower company will cut them as soon as they see them. If they are under the power lines its not your property anyhow. Measure the distance from the center of the road that the road right of vway is then you can plant them.

Good point, I'll ask the surveyor who is doing our survey... About that.

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 10:23:52 AM

Well, I got a lot of spruce and a lot of fir. Mostly white spruce, as it smells ghastly. Lol. SD, up to what size spruce will likely survive transplanting up here? I have some that are 6' to 8' in my fields that have to go. Several hundred. And smaller too. Yes, and aspen.... Lol. I could stagger plant the sizes, later cut the big ones, leave younger ones, plant little ones... Continuous windbreak..

thecfarm · March 31, 2015, 10:30:35 AM

Got a good size backhoe? One of my friends had really good luck using one.

SwampDonkey · March 31, 2015, 10:35:57 AM

If hand digging, I never transplant bigger than 3 foot spruce and just as soon as the ground is soft before bud break. I usually have 99% survival. I transplanted some wild ones in a spot on my woodlot that I dug in the road ditch. It was taken over by bracken fern, and the trees were 3 footers I put in there. They all survived. I put white pine in with them, the rabbits and moose have destroyed them. :D Bracken are hard on trees and live forever unless shaded out.

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 11:02:09 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on March 31, 2015, 10:30:35 AM
Got a good size backhoe? One of my friends had really good luck using one.

No, but my AMISH Nbr does! It just sits there... I'm gonna ask him if we can 'store it' at my place... Since he's not using it! 8).

Warped · March 31, 2015, 11:35:01 AM

Met a guy from Pa. who bought and old Christmas tree farm my way for hunting and told me to take what I wanted. I grabbed around forty white spruce, a few scotch pines and whatever blue spruce I could find. The BS certainly don't seed like the others, only got two or three. There were more WS seedlings and SP than I could lift with a shovel in a life time. The tallest I could lift by hand were around 5'.
I didn't want to be greedy and take too many even though he said have at it, he wanted them all gone. Went by the next spring and he had rented a hoe and dozer and leveled the place in a day (retired equipment operator). I couldn't believe it! For a few years a few of us would drop 30' BS and take the top 6' for Christmas, and it always broke my heart. Not anymore, nice beautiful rows all gone!
Anyways, I planted them in two staggered rows 72" inches apart (54" mowing deck) for screening just inside the power lines on state road. Excellent survival rate and NY uses loads of salt. If they interfere with power lines they will just trim them back at no cost to the homeowner. They do it all the time.
Stake'em up good and you should be good to go, but they do grow slow.........

Warped · March 31, 2015, 11:41:29 AM

And by lift I mean dig by hand for transplanting. They say only transplant in months with an "R". I did it all year since the price was right and mot everyone survived and are growing nicely.
Also weeping Canadian hemlock make a nice faster growing screen but are an ornamental so may be cost prohibitive.

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 12:33:50 PM

Quote from: Warped on March 31, 2015, 11:41:29 AM
And by lift I mean dig by hand for transplanting. They say only transplant in months with an "R". I did it all year since the price was right and mot everyone survived and are growing nicely.

Warped, what hardiness zone are you? And when, in general, is your last frost date? Ours is 4a, last frost date around June something - gotta check.

Warped · March 31, 2015, 01:24:49 PM

Trying to answer

Warped · March 31, 2015, 01:25:45 PM

Yikes, thought 4 but had to double check to be sure.....losing my mind.
4/5 depending on map as I'm right on the border.
TBH, I'm not sure about frost date, have to check. Well, thinking about it, it must be around late may. We don't plant annuals until memorial day or so. Often Home Chepot will have to discount petunias e.g. because they got bit a little. I thought June was pretty late, hmmmm, appears it may be similar here in northern New York.

Kept getting an error for nearly an hour.....

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 01:59:01 PM

Yes, I kept getting an 'error' too... no worries. Jeff is up to something, I bet <grin> jk

I DID however check with Emera Power company up here... :

,quote from Emera> We adhere to ISA, International Society of Arboriculture and ANSI, American National Standards Institute standards, pruning a fairly large area around power lines to meet the demands of modern equipment. That's because the power lines that deliver today's stronger voltages are more sensitive to trees, wind, and other external elements. As a rule, our tree care experts create ten feet of clearance alongside power lines, with fifteen feet of clearance above and all woody brush and small trees are removed from beneath the lines. By cutting and pruning to these clearances, this should keep your tree limbs away from our lines for about seven years. Our crews will likely return to re-prune trees in five to seven year cycles.

When line clearance work is complete, our crews remove branches and brush from your property and leave behind all substantial wood for your use (as required by law).

You can help us minimize tree-related outages and ensure the beauty of your landscape through thoughtful planting of new trees. Trees planted along your property's border should either be low growing shrubs or tall and narrow trees, planted at least 30 feet from power lines. Spreading trees, such as maples and oaks, are the most common outage-causing culprits and may need to be planted at least 50 feet away from power lines. <End Quote>

Sounds nice in theory, but in practice, I don't think they get out much by us. There's a whole line of brushy, scrubby trees growing right up to the poles, in the ditches, all along the road, under these poles/electric lines. Been there since 1997 (have photo to prove). AND TO BE FAIR, they have millions and zillions of state 2ndary roads, so it's not like they're gonna come around cutting stuff unless there's a problem. So...

So I'm thinking - what am I 'fighting' this for? Stupid of me. Just go ahead, pull out ALL the brushy trees, bushes and burdocks - Leave that western road boundary bare. Let those two front fields be solely for pasture, hay, and the Home Garden, that's a total of about 7 acres. Move the blueberries, strawberries to the Mid farm area, i.e. the next set of twin fields to the east, which has it's own natural windbreak provided by a 100' swathe of mixed hardwood, pines, apples and such. Duh....

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 02:01:51 PM

And warped? Some sites are telling me that zone 4a is May 15th, May 23, June 10th. Go figure. So I don't know. lol. It's cold and windy up on the ridge. I'll just figure 'the end of May'...

SwampDonkey · March 31, 2015, 02:17:10 PM

If your transplanting from local wild ones you have no worries about frost. Bring something north from the south any significant distance and you have frost hardiness troubles. When you go to Lowes and see a wide spread zone hardiness say from zone 4-7, you better hope it came from zone 4 and not 7 if your in northern Maine. Trees are a little different than annual crops on fields, they have to survive year around. ;)

kwendt · March 31, 2015, 02:45:29 PM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on March 31, 2015, 02:17:10 PM
If your transplanting from local wild ones you have no worries about frost. Bring something north from the south any significant distance and you have frost hardiness troubles. When you go to Lowes and see a wide spread zone hardiness say from zone 4-7, you better hope it came from zone 4 and not 7 if your in northern Maine. Trees are a little different than annual crops on fields, they have to survive year around. ;)

Same with blueberry bushes/strawberry plugs. I so agree with you, SD. I don't use big box stores for plants. I'll pull them off my own land first if I can. Or there is a nursery up in Presque Isle, one in Caribou, one in Bridgewater that has a few things I'll be looking for. I'll likely want zone 3 grown stuff, since we're up on that ridge saddle. It's colder/harsher in the winter and might cross the line into zone 3, not just zone 4a. Besides, nature tends to know what grows best and where... I should pay attention.