Trees on Farms
A group interested in all aspects of trees on farms, including agroforestry, silvopasture, remnant... View more
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Wind breaks
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Wind breaks
Hello – this is my first post/ inquiry – so here goes.
I have a mature windbreak planted by the original owners of my property perhaps 25 years ago – they are predominately Melanoxylon and are now over 20m tall – leaving big gaps underneath for wind intrusion.
I recently planted a 50 tree mixed fruit orchard in a fully netted enclosure around 30m from the windbreak boundary.
The wind coming through the trees is proving too strong for some of my fruit trees and they are being bent over and need propping/ securing to keep them stable and upright.Has anyone had any experience/ luck with Sticky Hop Bush (Dodonaea viscosa) or Tee Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) as a first tier windreak underneath taller established trees? Or any other suitable hedging, 4 – 5m species?
Thank you for your interest,
Geoff Constantine -
7 Replies
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Hi Geoff, great to have you posting and lets hope more take the opportunity to use this communities collective knowledge. Have you got a picture and a location that your happy to share to help with our suggestions, tree solutions can be very location specific. Cheers, Charles.
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Great to hear from you Charles – I will take some photos today and post them to give you an idea of my problem.
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No expert here, but I think Woolly bush are great. Adenanthos sericeus. Also are potential fire retardant. Very little science behind it, just rumours. I guess it depends on how your budget is. Woolly bush are available at nurseries in 5L pots, you can get mature ones ready for the wind. I would defiantly run some irrigation for this summer if you plant them soon. Planting them 1-2m apart you could get a nice closure quickly.
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We have successfully used woolly bush as a perimeter hedge around the garden as a windbreak, we prune before winter storms arrive to keep it thick and secure in the ground. Unsure of the lifespan but ours has been in for 9 years and going well. I will definitely use in a mixed planting windbreak situation in the paddock and protect from livestock.
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Hi Geoff, it really all depends on your soil type and location in the landscape (for example, gravelly soils, high and dry or heavy soils in winter wet area).
I could definitely make suggestions with more information.
Cheers
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Thanks for your initial contact Rebecca – I have had a bit of trouble negotiating this site – I wonder if you can see my recent post and photos directly below your post?
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Ok – thanks for the feed back and sorry for the delay in keeping my inquiry in the discussion.
I have finally managed to take a few photos – the last being the distance of about 35m from my southern Melanoxylon tree windbreak which was planted by the previous owners many years ago to my new orchard.
Coffee rock outcrops but deep clay underneath so quite wet feet in the winter and hard in the summer. It drains reasonably well through an underground stream which surfaces well down the paddock but my Avocados have been complaining of too much damp for sure.
Guessing but the Melanoxylons have to be 25m plus and I do have room to plant smaller hedge species just outside the understory toward the orchard and bring my firebreak in as well.
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