Windbreaks (picture heavy)

 

I had a reader ask me about windbreaks. You can click on the image to embiggen.

So I took a bunch of pictures. Most of them are from the east and looking west. Our prevailing wind is from the west-southwest.

Windbreaks present a few challenges. One challenge involves keeping the bottom dense so the wind does not blow beneath the bulk of the branches.

Another challenge is producing ancillary benefits. The windbreak soaks up sunlight and water. We might as well attempt to get some kind of crop from it.

Mike Parker recommends that windbreaks be designed as wildlife corridors with a width of 20-to-25 paces. This is the low-point of my property and I planted willows to sequester any nutrients before they leave the property.

The windbreak has shorter species on the edges and taller, mast producing species in the middle to give it a hump-shape

Chestnut trees can play either position

Some species are there because I like how they look. The tall trees in the center of the frame are P. grandidentata X P. alba and are about 60 feet tall.

Black Locust tends to pop up everywhere.

I intend to prune the spruce trees up about 8'. I hope that the sun hitting the ground will recruit appropriate species.

My electric fences are curvy. A fence that is convex stays tight when the animals push it and requires few corner posts.

Mulberries, grape vines, crab apples, persimmons, chestnuts, sumac, blackberries and domestic apple seedlings thicken up the edges.

Taller species in the center include Black Locust, Swamp White Oak, Sawtooth Oak, Northern Red Oak, English Oak and Black Walnut.

LOTS of Illinois Everbearing Mulberry grafts. It has a very long period of fruiting.