Quicky windbreak?

[Caitedid]

Hey all, Our farm at school is having pretty serious crop loss due to wind over our ridge. Looking for ideas for ways to prop corn up until it develops a stronger stem, and ways to get a decent windbreak going in a matter of a few weeks instead of a few years. Am thinking about chicken wire or snow fence with morning glories or something growing on it. The fence does need to be fairly attractive as the administration is already a pain in the patoot. We will also be looking at putting in a hedgerow as a more permanent solution, but we need something up there asap so that our market gardens don't get completely destroyed. Thanks!

[crehberg]

You're thinking outside the box, and I like it. I just wouldn't expect drastic results from the chicken wire.

[Maura]

Snow fence should work, at least for a while. I wouldn't worry about how it looks, just take it down when it's served it's purpose.

[Callieslamb]

To prop the corn up, I would use a wire trellis system similar to one for raspberries. Put posts with T's at the ends of the rows, run wires along each side of the corn row from each T arm to the other Posts' T. Put the corn in between the wires. You wont' even be able to see it ..Maybe you could leave off the T arms and just attach the wire to the post and run it along either side of the row - ? If your rows are too long - add a post or two mid-row.

[Jim-mi]

That snow fence idea sounds good as a "do it tomorrow" sort of solution.
If you can't get enough of the good ol wire wood fence, then the "day glo" orange plastic would be very good.
depending on how wide the field is I'd run more than one row of it.

Up here we keep having frosts and freezes so not much of anything in the ground yet . ...........

[gone-a-milkin]

Stack some strawbales on the side where the wind is prevailing. You may find your corn will stand right back up on its own, once the wind is stopped.

[Wolf mom]

I don't know how large your area is, or how much money you have to work with, but a hoop house covered with shade cloth would work perfectly. Use the tan colored cloth as it bounces the light around beautifully and cuts way down on the wind.

All hoop houses with shred unless the covering is attached very tightly in a windy area. If you use PVC pipe, the pipe will off-gass & cause the shade cloth or any covering to weaken & ultimately shred over a few years in a windy location.

Paint your pipe first. Erect your hoops, then get the plastic clips to fasten shade cloth. Attach the clips with plastic covered wire (I use single strand, plasitc covered, green electrical wire) to the bottom of the hoops. The secret is to then get a rope - tie it in a loop & attach it to both sides of the hoop tightly at the bottom close to the ground with the wire. Place each side of the rope on the hoop on top of the shade cloth. Keep your hoops about 5 feet apart. Some around here push it to 7 ft, but no more with high winds.

This really works as I have winds of 50 up to 80 mph & the shade cloth stays tight. If you walk into a hoop house covered with shade cloth, it's like another world.

[uncle Will in In.]

Orange plastic baler twine tied to steel T posts about every ten feet on the downwind side of the row of sweet corn stalks works really well and is cheap. It may be nessesary to raise the twine a little from time to time as the corn gets as high as an elephants eye. You are in Iowa, right? <>UNK

[Caitedid]

Thanks Unk for the quick and easy solution to the corn problem. The fence for the windbreak will be about 3 acres long, and HAS to be attractive. If it was on my farm I wouldn't care less, but the administration already has a problem with us, and I can see them having a monster fit about an "eyesore" of a fence. My hope was that growing flowers up the fence would make it more wind resistant and more attractive. We are looking to put in a hedgerow next year, but something needs to happen now so that there are crops to make next year's money off of. Caite

[ronbre]

at my house i put up wooden X lattice on posts..it really worked well..then I planted trees around it and when they grew it became an impenitrable barrier, I love it..The lattice has lasted 30 years with very little maintainence, used pressure treated, a few broken laths have had to be replaced but it was the cheapo 1/4" wood stuff to start with ..stapled together.




when I originally put up this fence over 30 years ago, there were No trees and no privacy in our entire yard..in the front..and this gave us privacy from the road and a great wind and snow break

[Harry Chickpea]

Plant a thick border of sunflowers or amaranth? Pretty hard for folks to argue that sunflowers are an eyesore. Add a support wire about four feet high, or plant them densely and they might be all that is needed.

[Caitedid]

Thinking we're going to run the plastic fence with morning glories up the south side and sunflowers on the north side- pretty and cheap. Thanks!

[jennigrey]

Around here, morning glories are terribly terribly invasive and hateful things.