Erecting windbreaks can cut home heating costs

This past winter certainly had its share of windy and snowy days, especially in the tumultuous month of March!

Now that the spring planting season is finally approaching for much of our region, you might want to consider planting some trees and shrubs as wind and snow barriers. You can also incorporate some trees and shrubs that attract wildlife as well. Research has proven that properly positioned windbreaks can reduce home heating costs by 10 to 15 percent. They can also significantly reduce the amount of snow that blows onto your driveway or piles up on your house.

Optimally, the windbreak should be about 200 feet from your house or driveway, but 100 feet is OK and you will still get some benefit from as little as 50 feet away. The best trees to plant for wind and snow breaks are evergreens, since they form the densest barrier. In our area, we can easily grow many different types of evergreens, but for those of us who live in deer country, our choices are not so broad. The only evergreen tree that is pretty much deer proof is blue spruce, but most other spruce species, i.e. white, Norway and red are also pretty resistant.

On the other end of the spectrum are the evergreens that are “deer candy.” This includes arborvitae, yews and white cedar. Slightly deer-resistant trees are most of the firs, notably white fir, but also balsam or Fraser. Scotts pine is also somewhat deer-resistant, but our native white pine is not, nor is hemlock. To be on the safe side, I suggest you stick with spruce. In a severe winter, almost every evergreen except spruce can be devastated.

An effective windbreak is positioned to block the prevailing winter wind, which for us, is out of the northwest. Nor’easter storms come up the East Coast from the south, but they bend around in a counter clockwise fashion and cause our winter weather to come from the northwest. Windbreaks are planted in rows, with individual trees spaced 6 to 8 feet apart in the row and rows spaced 8 to 10 feet apart.

For best results, at least three rows are planted, but four to eight rows are even better if you have the space. A 100-foot-long row would therefore require 12 to 16 trees. It can cost

a small fortune to buy 60 to 100 mature evergreen trees that are 6 feet tall. Your local county soil and water conservation district offers bundles of “bare root” seedling transplants in bundles of 10 to 50 at a very reasonable price. You can also order larger bare root transplants on line from several large nurseries that supply many

Christmas tree operations, as well as local nurseries. Of course, the larger the transplant is, the sooner it will provide the wind protection. If you purchase 50 or more 15- to 18-inch transplants, they should not cost more than a dollar or two each.

It is a good idea to prepare the planting site in advance of the purchase. Tilling each of the rows with a powerful rototiller will make the planting process simple, but few rototillers can handle an established

sod or hayfield. Most home gardeners will use a sharp spade to open a slit in the ground that the transplant is placed into after fanning out the roots and then the slit is closed by a swift heel kick.

Mark the planned tree locations clearly with survey flags spaced accordingly in rows, before digging. Bare root trees will not compete well with the existing sod, so a four-inch layer of woodchip or bark mulch should by placed to surround the transplant in

order to stifle the weeds. Some gardeners will use a non-selective herbicide to kill the sod before planting, or they may cover the newly planted transplant with a pail to protect it and then spray the herbicide over it. Mulching the newly planted tree is always a good practice. I don’t recommend adding any fertilizer at all at planting time.

Bundles of bare root transplants need to be handled very carefully from the moment they arrive

at your door. The best way to hold them for a few days is to put them in a five-gallon pail with the roots under water. Don’t leave them in the water for more than a day or two or three, however, or they may drown. Put the fivegallon pail in a cool, dark, basement, if possible, prior

to planting.

Next week, I will elaborate a bit more on how to plant bare root trees and shrubs.