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flugge

flugge

Well-Known Member
I have been throwing a lot of questions out there (and yes, I have searched many of the previous posts and read them too) but I am curious what you guys suggest. We have been having some major problems with wandering eyes on the property and want to build a screen. Its only going to be about ten foot wide at most. My bro in law who is funding this project wants to do switchgrass.. I am the one doing the labor, and I think Egyptian wheat, or a hybrid willow tree potentially... Any major advantages to one of the other? How long does the egyptian stand for usually without replant? Cost effectively, what is best?
 
EW must be planted yearly. The willow idea isn't a great screen in the fall. Your gonna think I'm nuts, but autumn olive is a crazy good screen if you can control it properly. Just don't get made at me if it takes your whole farm over later on. Another alternative is renting a dozen and putting s mound along the road. 3-4 feet high and planted in grasses should create a nice high year around screen.
 
We've got a bunch of cedars if you want to transplant! I would say the hybrid willow would need to be planted very close for late fall screening, and possibly would want to top them so they bush out more (depending on how tall you want them)? We have some (I believe this to be what they are) in the yard, and still holding leaves today despite all the wind we've had. They do sucker quite a bit around the base of the tree. As stated, EW would be annual planting and not sure how long into winter you would have a stand (probably depends on wind, snow, etc.). We've never intentionally planted a screening tho, so I'm not much help.
 
Careful that those wandering eyes don't make it behind your screen, out of your eyesight if you're just passing by on patrol. If it's just gawkers from the road you're trying to work around, a screen is a great idea. Poachers won't care about your screen.
 
IMO, the willows would probably be best (once they're tall enough) if you would be able to plant enough rows of them so you can't see through them in the fall. 3-4 rows deep and it's hard to see through, even in the fall/winter; it's like a blanket when the leaves are on. That's going to take more than 10', though. I wouldn't, however, be afraid to plant them 4' apart side to side & have the rows be the same distance apart.
Advantage to that is you do it once & once they're tall enough (2-3 years if you dump enough water on them or if they're in a spot that gets a lot of moisture naturally) you're done.
Might have to use something else like the Egyptian wheat for a few years.

I don't know what the lay of the land you're trying to 'hide' looks like, but switch doesn't always do that well for that purpose unless the ground you're trying to hide is higher than where the peeping toms are at.
 
Ok guys- here is a little bit of what the property is... the red dots are current stands (still adjusting some of them) The yellow squiggles are existing food plots... the blue square is where I am putting in a food plot next year because its actually a big opening after a tornado went through last year... now obviously you can see the field on the property.. its twenty acres of hay ground... we just want something to keep eyes off.. its a main highway to the south side that draws a lot of eyes... the gravel road on the left side of the picture is usually gated as its a closed road, but if someone leaves the gates open, lots of eyes end up in there... we are putting gates across our driveways this spring, so no one should be able to just drive out there.. any other thoughts about stuff on the property I will take advice.. this has been the first year I have really put any time into this property, although we have had it three years...

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How tall do you need the screen? As people said the willows are a popular screen in my area, but a single row won't do the job. They are extremely fast growing and achieving 30+ feet height. I'd guess you would need 3-4 rows to create a quality screen and I'm sure that might be an expensive task depending on total area needing screened.
 
hoosierhunter said:
How tall do you need the screen? As people said the willows are a popular screen in my area, but a single row won't do the job. They are extremely fast growing and achieving 30+ feet height. I'd guess you would need 3-4 rows to create a quality screen and I'm sure that might be an expensive task depending on total area needing screened.
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This. I would plant 3 rows of willows closest to the area and in the meantime plant EW or switch inside of the rows of willows until they grow sufficiently to do the job alone
 
If you decide to do the hybrid willows, for heaven's sake, don't buy them!
You can literally take a bottom branch off of an existing tree, lop it off into 1' sections, put it in a bucket with 3" of water until they sprout roots and stick them in the ground. Keep them watered & they'll grow and grow fast! Supposedly you just need to make sure that you put the part that was closest to the trunk when you cut it off in the ground. I did that 5 years ago & they are 30'+ high now. If you don't know anyone around close to you that has some, you can come & have some of my branches. Not sure where you're at, but it would be cheaper to make the drive than to buy them!
 
I do the "multi-approach". I do egyptian wheat. It's temporary, lasts all season but has to be redone each year. Behind that I do about 3 rows of different stuff depending on soils... cedars for sure, then a combo of shrubs, willow, hybrid poplar, swamp oak & a few others. That's long term what takes over after several years of EW. I would not do Switch just because it generally doesn't get tall enough. If you added Kanlow Switch or Big blue, it would get 6-8 feet tall but still, not high enough in most cases & trucks can look over, especially if the ground lowers from road, you lose a few feet there too. EW on the other hand gets 10-12' tall. I also do gates that are locked and some sort of fencing. At a minimum, i'd do a 1-2 strand fence with little flags so no one drives over & they see it. All locked down. hidden cameras as well. That's what I do.
 
IowaDave said:
If you don't know anyone around close to you that has some, you can come & have some of my branches. Not sure where you're at, but it would be cheaper to make the drive than to buy them!
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I could have given you a whole 30-40' tree that the power company decided was too close to the power line and cut down! Almost made me sick thinking about how much those branches could have been sold for, but I didn't have a place to go with them. One thing I will mention about them...if you need to work close to them (mowing or tilling), they do shed a lot of small branches during the fall/winter. Last spring I had a pile to burn that was about 10' x 10' x 5' from 12 or so trees after picking them up out of the yard.
 
For those of you using EW, if a guy was to put this in as a screen only, how wide of a strip do you need to put in to make it effective? Also how hard is it year to year to plow and prep for planting the following year?
 
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