Suggestions?
Is There Strength in Numbers?
- Thread starter TNTreeHugger
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Shigo: 'A new tree biology' is a classic.
The ISA Certified Arborist Study Guide would be excellent.
The ISA Certified Arborist Study Guide would be excellent.
Both are a little pricey for me. Any other suggestions?
Nope.
Oh well. It's back to The Inner Life of Animals then.
TreeTangler
ArboristSite Guru
I'll provide you with the info, you can draw your own conclusions. I purchased some additional property nearby my home a little over a month ago. It hasn't been touched in at least 60 years, probably more. I'm building some storage on a small part of it so I cleared about a quarter acre. When I started clearing, there wasn't a single downed tree that I had to clean up. After clearing that area, almost every week there has been at least one or two large trees that was downed by winds and rains.
That's sad.
It's like the longer a group of trees are together, the more dependent they are an each other for all kinds of support, like they become a single organism. When something bad happens to one, it affects all of them to some degree.
Fishin' Rod
ArboristSite Lurker
TreeHugger,
We have a shelter belt on our farm that is a half mile long and 120' wide. I am pretty sure it is a works project from the 1930's.
The very last row from the windward side is Ponderosa Pines that stick up about 80'. I have been working on the farm during 35 MPH winds with gusts to 45 MPH and it is perfectly calm in the wind lee of the shelter belt. However, it is a little spooky to listen to the wind on a day like that. The squat Red Mulberry trees in the first row begin deflecting the wind upwards. The rest of the trees in the subsequent rows continue to push the wind upwards until it finally whooshes through the tops of the pines.
I think the trees working together is primarily a function of fluid dynamics, but YMMV. I do have some more reading material, if you are still interested. It is a well-written treatise on windbreak practices by researchers from three windy areas - Nebraska, Iowa, and Western Australia. Check out the link below:
https://www.kansasforests.org/rural...NAAgroforestry Chapter 5 WB Yield Brandle.pdf
My kids have enjoyed helping with planting our more modern (and less ambitious) shelter belts. We usually start at the windward edge with a wildlife-friendly type of shrub that is thicket forming. This is backed by a row of cedars. The last rows are more widely spaced hardwood trees. (We have recently been planting oaks and Chinese chestnuts.) These are long term projects, but the wind reduction is significant as soon as the shrubs fill out and the cedars start to grow together.
Our predominant wind direction is from the south, so having the tallest trees in the back row for wind deflection perfectly matches with the available sunlight and no portion of the shelter belt is shaded.
Good luck on your future tree projects!
We have a shelter belt on our farm that is a half mile long and 120' wide. I am pretty sure it is a works project from the 1930's.
The very last row from the windward side is Ponderosa Pines that stick up about 80'. I have been working on the farm during 35 MPH winds with gusts to 45 MPH and it is perfectly calm in the wind lee of the shelter belt. However, it is a little spooky to listen to the wind on a day like that. The squat Red Mulberry trees in the first row begin deflecting the wind upwards. The rest of the trees in the subsequent rows continue to push the wind upwards until it finally whooshes through the tops of the pines.
I think the trees working together is primarily a function of fluid dynamics, but YMMV. I do have some more reading material, if you are still interested. It is a well-written treatise on windbreak practices by researchers from three windy areas - Nebraska, Iowa, and Western Australia. Check out the link below:
https://www.kansasforests.org/rural...NAAgroforestry Chapter 5 WB Yield Brandle.pdf
My kids have enjoyed helping with planting our more modern (and less ambitious) shelter belts. We usually start at the windward edge with a wildlife-friendly type of shrub that is thicket forming. This is backed by a row of cedars. The last rows are more widely spaced hardwood trees. (We have recently been planting oaks and Chinese chestnuts.) These are long term projects, but the wind reduction is significant as soon as the shrubs fill out and the cedars start to grow together.
Our predominant wind direction is from the south, so having the tallest trees in the back row for wind deflection perfectly matches with the available sunlight and no portion of the shelter belt is shaded.
Good luck on your future tree projects!
TY for the information... looking forward to reading the link.
