Habitat Talk Time

[eastwoods]

OK, Benny's been here long enough to feel at home I hope. So let's talk the real thing before it get's to hot and we say aw'next year.

I want to build a privacy flora fence/wall to protect/seclude/hide my feeding field birds from people looking at them from their trucks. I am also trying to cover up a house on the road. The road is a dirt road that does not get much traffic except for duck hunters looking for ducks. The field is 1/2 mile long so what type of plants and how wide. I am building a permanent crown road as soon as it dries out so I want to know where to put it.

If I did it tomorrow would go 25 feet and plant seedling pines that grow 2 feet a year after the first year. Give me some other ideas. Might make a dove roost out of those pines.

[eastwoods]

I'll have to look up pampas and eleagnus.

Good idea with the figs. May try one row of them on the field side.

Course I'm looking for something with a lot of leaves in the winter (guess dead or green don't really matter.

Might do that tall milo and let the pines grow through it. Thinking 5 - 6 years for the pines to do what I want.

Pines don't do well in my delta area. They always grow short and squatty. Course that's what I'm looking for.

Also thinking about transplanting some giant cane.

[eastwoods]

I'm trying to hide a house as well. Those giant pampas are to short. Figs will die out one out 2 winters up here.

Perhaps lebanon cypruss.

The thing with pine is the seedlings are basically free. I could plant a row every year and I could bush hog one row down every 6 years to always keep some short and green.

[eastwoods]

Just hit a bust on those eleagnus, hardy to 20 degrees F.

[eastwoods]

That old world milo or egyption wheat might be the ticket waiting on the pines to grow up.

Guess i could do a row of magnolias. Those are about the best bird roost I know of.

[BoogaBottom]

Those evergreen leland cypress bushes you can buy at Lowes/Home Depot should work...they are pricey....plant about 10 feet apart and they will be 20 feet high and fill in within 2 years.

Ive been thinking of planting some for the same reason, but not sure how or if, agricultural spraying such as defoliant might kill them ? particularly if applied by cropduster since it would bleed over field edges more than tractor sprayed...

[GulfCoast]

Roaches adore pampas grass. Ask anyone who lives south of I-10. I would not plant it to screen the house, it would be great for your fields, but it is not really as cheap as cane.

[DuckDeke]

I would sugest your pines closer to the field and putting some evergreens like that leyland cypress already mentioned or some cedars closer to the road. When you're buying just look at the growth rate and do the math for how long i will take to fill in. If you do this your first barrier of screen (the evergreens) will establish fairly quickly and give your pines a little time to get up there and fill in the gaps. Just my $0.02. Good luck...

[msbigdawg1234]

The egyptian wheat, how tall does it get? Do you have to replant every year? Have never seen it before but heard that it got 15 ft. Is that true or will the deer keep it down?