Privacy at property edges - reforesting?
 

We moved onto 25 acres of old pasture land. It's almost completely a cleared hay field. There are only a few scattered trees here and there. It's roughly square and our house is roughly in the center of the land. I'd like to get some type of trees or hedges going quickly around the edges to give us some privacy. Ideally, I'd like to create a thick forrest about 50 feet deep around all four edges of the property. I know this would take forever though, so I'm thinking of planting just a row or two of trees to start out.

What's my best bet to get some privacy going quickly? Should I just stop mowing the edges and let the grass and eventually trees grow up naturally? Should I plant something? What ever I plant will have to survive on it's own after planting. There's no way I could get that much water that far away from the house on a regular basis.

I live in Northeast Oklahoma, zone 7.

I would do a web search for the state and search terms like "shelter belt" and "forestry". You will probably get some good suggestions. Choose Both fast and slow growing varieties. Avoid planting just one type.

Living in Minnesota I likely shouldn't be telling you exactly what species to plant, but the general idea:

You want something fast growing, in the popular family, to get a quick set of trees growing.

It's nice to have a hedge on the outside around, stays low but offers pretty quick border.

You want to plant another species or 2, slower growing trees. These will take over the job in 15 years or so, when the populars - not very hearty - will be starting to give up.

Often times the local Extension or other offices in your county seat will have programs to cost-share or at least design & suggest good species and patterns for your location.

I'd be real surprised if you could get a forest growing in Oklahoma without watering the new trees for the first year, will need a tank & hose & drive around once a week or so, soak them up?

This will not be cheap, perhaps you want to pick your areas, and build up proivacy where it is needed. From what I hear of OK - anyhow the parts I've heard of - it's not really a tree haven, you only get little scrub things to come up on their own?

--->Paul

Ack226
Check with the soil conservation office at the FSA in your county, you can buy bundles of seedling trees from the state nursery in the spring for very little. They are for conservation use, shelter belts and wind breaks would qualify.

Cedar grows fast and makes a beautiful border.

Bradford Pears (not a fruit tree) grow fast, do good in the south, and end up splitting apart in 25 years. I would plant a row of those along with a row of better trees.
I'd also do some high growing shrubs (azaleas or something like that) to help block the sight.

I do agree with the poster above, you're probaly going to have to water the first year or 2.

Only if you like cedars :cool:

here in indiana you can just stop mowing and you'll have a nice crop of bird planted trees and bushes (mostly mullberry and cherry trees are what they planted in my yard but a honeysuckle bush with white flowers has popped up too).

the cherry trees are not the wild cherries but a fruit cherry that comes back true. wonderful sour cherries from my neighbors yard. have over a dozen in my way back yard that I have stopped mowing.

blackberries will show up pretty quick too.

For lots of privacy and really fast growth check out Thuja Green Giant or Willow Hybrid Trees or any of the others listed at this link: http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/PrivacyTrees.htm

Ordinary trees are going to take much longer to get established to the point they will do the job for you but you can plant them behind the Thuja etc for long term effect. They don't live as long as ordinary trees.

If you have enough rain...
 

hybrid willows will grow fast but so will cottonwoods. We have to water to get cw started but then they go. Willows need water for quite some time.

I might plant a row of some kind of shrub, maybe a holly of some sort. Would grow fast enough to basically make a wall in short time and are pretty hardy and keep leaves in winter.

How about Cottonwoods and White Pine?

big rockpile

We lived in Oklahoma for a number of years and was in the south east section. We would travel up to north east area quite often. That area is more tree frendley than the western areas. A verey good tree for that part of the country for hedge and fence line is Osage Orange or what is called Bodark in that part of the countrey. As I recall that is a local name for a French name that has been localised. The usual oak maple and various evergreens do well. Also black berries and numerious wild shrubs. propertey that we had had not been kept up for some time when we bought it and our pasture fence rows were allmost full grown hedges with all sorts of bushes and young trees. And of course ceder which a lot of folks insist is a weed tree and cut them down. How ever if you let the fence go wild the birds will plant a lot of those for you.

if you live near some state land or if you have access to forests..go with bags and buckets and shovels and watch for trees that wouldn't have a chance to grow in the situation they are in..and salvage them.

i have done this and reforested a large acerage here by doing so..

often you will find seedling trees in places that they could never grow to full size..such as under or at the base of other trees, in gradings along the roads..and even in swamps..

i have dug hundreds of black spruce out of swamps, white and red pine and canadian hemlocks, and maples from along side the roads or under other trees where they would NOT have grown to full size..

also watch for SEEDS..i have planted oaks from acorns that are now large trees,

you can plant some things from cuttings..most trees are able to be grown from cuttings if you follow the right directions..look up in books or on line on how to do cuttings from trees or shrubs that you have available to you in your zones.


if you don't have state land avail..find some forested areas and ask permission to go into the woods and look for these types of trees to dig up..most people won't mind for you to dig up their excess trees..if you were near here i would give you seedlings of dozens of species..

Call the Oklahoma state Forestry Commission and they will have trees at a low price and they will grow without watering them. They may help you to get somebody to plaint them.

Indeed... gather up a couple dozen gallons of red cedar berries, plow a strip along your fence, fertilize it, and spread the seeds as soon as you pick them... spread em thick. It'll grow into a nice hedge. Better than a lot of trees that make better hedges when they're young... problem with the fast growing trees is they open up after a few years. In a few years you'll have a wildlife loving jungle.

I do like cedars. I hate Bradford Pears though as they are not very sturdy trees. Considering the storm and tornado activity that parts of Oklahoma get it seems to me Bradford Pears would be a waste of money.

Plus, cedars give you privacy year round.

Can you mail me some red cedar berries?

Don't know about OK but here in Missouri you do any digging on Goverment Land even on the Right of Way will get you a Fine and or Jail time.

big rockpile

In some states where there are range lands or land held by the BLM you can do limited collecting of flora. Check with your local BLM.

Add some useful trees as well. Walnuts, chestnuts etc.

yeah i think it really depends on the state..in Michigan there are some protected plants, you can get a list of those..but otherwise plants that don't have a chance to survive where they are are pretty much fair game

It would be against the law in PA too, can't remove plants from the game lands and state forest. My cousin did relocate some small pines from a large stand to sites around our state forest lease & there is a stand my pappy planted from the state nursery that block the road some...I've been feeding the little ones for the past three - four years and they have been growing nicely.

I remember reading in Mother Earth news about hybrid tulip poplars. They grow 16' a year and their plan was to cover an acre and harvest 1/4th a year for firewood. They will regenerate from the stumps a few times so it was a self perpetuating wood lot.

I always figured they would be a good 'quick' element for a shelter belt of mixed trees.

I would look to see what is already growing in your area. Those will probably take root on your place as well. I like the idea of plowing up an area all around your area and planting a variety of trees/bushes (including nut and mulberry; rugosa roses too); something you can actually benefit from in ways other than privacy.

Let us know what you decide and how it all goes. I find your idea interesting as I have 2 sides I want to do something similar with. I'm in zone 7 too.

I agree with just not mowing a strip near the fence line. It will soon fill with trees, bushes, vines, and grasses native to the area. They will be hardy and not require a lot of care. The wildlife will love it and it is the easiest thing to do.
I started doing that last year. Already there are trees growing.

Don't stop there: apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, persimmons, cherries, apricots, pecans, blue berries, grape arbor (there is a 100 ft long one down the road from me) might as well get something to eat out of the deal!

Our road is pretty busy and my wife wouldn't let me plant bamboo in front of the house, so I loaded an entire orchard into the front yard, probably a little slower than some other species, but i can't wait until they start producing, not to mention the spring blooms...

Around here Cedar and mesquite will take over very quickly, and take over a whole pasture in no time, and if you planted the cedars it would happen even faster. Any fence or pasture that isn't kept clear will overgrow in just a few years and need a dozer or crew with chainsaw to clear.

But I'm down in 6B climate in central Texas.

Remember that azaleas will kill goats so if you think you might want some kind of livestock make sure it isn't poisonous.

In Arkansas the Bradford pear trees that get loose and gets onto a forest they make thorn trees and are called trash trees they are a nuisance around where they were plaint for shads and in the wild are not the same as the ones are for shade. You will spend a fortune on buying trees to go around the 20 acres but the State Nursery will have some for around $40 per hundred for hardwoods and less for pine. I would not like any pine on my property because of the fire danger they are bare root and must be planted during the dormant time. I know several people that work for the Oklahoma Nursery and they will treat you nice.

I would use several species. A very fast growing dense hedge on the outside. Then slower growing trees inside of that. Then orchard. Lilac, cedar, apple. Pine and maple are good for bigger trees. I would stay away from poplar.

Inside of that I would put up electric fence and graze animals.

Right around the house I would strategically plant some trees too.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

You could also check with your Soil Conservation Service. A few years back we signed up on a wetlands reclaimation project with them. They helped fund the planting of 33 acres in hardwoods...all native trees like Cypress, Water Oaks, etc. They also pay us a yearly payment for the next 15 years after which we are free to do with the trees as we wish. They have lots of different programs that vary from State to State.

just walked my property line yesterday with a bag of siberian pea tree seeds, and placed a few between and in the gaps of my windbreaks and privacy screens after posting a question about the seeds on www.permies.com forum and finding out that they get about 20' tall by about 16' wide..thought they grew much smaller.

so.

we'll see if they sprout and grow..also have someone sending me some catalpa seeds and will be putting those on my property line hedgerows.

right now i have canadian hemlock, white and red pine, black, blue and white spruce, cedar, scotch pine, alder, white ash, barberry, raspberry, currant, grapes, maples, aspen, wild cherry, woodbine vines, honeysuckle, and some other odds and ends.

Might rethink the catalpa seeds.

The only trees that you have that will grow in Oklahoma are white ash,cedar wild cherry, cedar, and honeysuckle. Scotch pine will grow but need watering and care.