Evergreen Road screen?

[bigeight]

Originally Posted by Tom inPA

How fast do the red cedar grow. I have used Norways and they are about 8 years old and will not make an effective screen for another 2-3 years I suspect.

How big were the Norway's when you planted them?

[bigeight]

Originally Posted by hardwood11

I enrolled several windbreaks some as habitat, and a few as road screens. If I had five rows to work with I would do the following, this is based on trial and error.

Cedar
Spruce
Spruce
Aspen or Pin Oak
Plum

If no shrubs were involved and no hardwoods:

Cedar
Spruce
Spruce
Spruce
Norway Pine

That is just what has worked for me, here is a screen of spruce, spruce, ash, crabapple and nanking cherry...planted in 2003 or 2004...I would re-do this if I could, with the exception of spruce

Are those White spruce, or Norways? What size were those when you planted them in 03-04'? Wondering how much that plastic is paying a role in the growth comparison?

[hardwood11]

Originally Posted by bigeight

Are those White spruce, or Norways? What size were those when you planted them in 03-04'? Wondering how much that plastic is paying a role in the growth comparison?

The trees in the photo are Black Hills Spruce, but Norways or White will work just fine. Black Hills Spruce grow slow, but they are drought tolerant. When they are mature, they do make a nice screen...again Norway and White, I like them as well!!

Plastic helps a lot.

Red Cedar is better than White Cedar, simply because the deer will hammer white cedar, and red cedar is very tough.

[bigeight]

Sounds like they are open to suggestion on the windbreak, and have some flexibility,

Right now I am thinking best case scenario, I would go
4x4' spacing with the roadside row of Red Cedar
followed by 3 rows of 7x7' spacing of Norway spruce
followed by a row of ....something Pine???

How does this sound as a starting point?

Does the plastic help, or hurt evergreens? The water table is very high in this area. I would love the weed protection, but would fear hurting the evergreens, I know they prefer well drained soil. Thoughts on that

[Tom inPA]

My Norways were about 18"-24" when I planted them. They were in pots when I got them. They are probably pushing 6-8' tall after 8 years in full sun.

[JML2]

I have white spruce, norway spruce, and white pine going into their 5th year. I have some approaching 6 ft tall but have another couple years before they will provide a good screen.

I was advised to not plant all one type of spruce in case of disease, etc. You may consider making one of your spruce rows white spruce.

I have 4 rows along the perimeter of my farm. All white pines get browsed/rubbed if not caged. They do grow a little faster. If I could do it again, I would not plant white pine.

I planted my trees as 2-2 bare roots and spray each year for weeds.

Good luck.