Planing trees

badgerhowlin

Hi,

Im thinking on planting a row of trees in front of my north facing side of the house. the boundary is a good 30 m away from the house. there is a septic tank and my percolation area in between the house and boundary.

What would be the best trees to grow to give a good wind break, and that would look nice.

I was tanking on planting 2 or 3 Alder trees in the row and 2 horse chestnut trees but not sure what else.

Any suggestions?

Oldtree

were you looking for a few formal specimen trees to grow to maturity, informal trees, fast growers, winter color/interest, summer color, berries, spring flowers big leaves, verrigated leaves or the look of a formal hedge, informal hedge, natural hedge or hedgerow, to block things in the landscape, privacy, expensive or reasonable cost?

what are the distances involved?

a good wind break would be more like a line of closely planted trees, I've used mainly alder (italian and grey) with ash mixed in, also some willow, apple, oak, blackthorn and hawthorn with birch and poplar along the back.

magicbastarder

alder and horse chestnut would be quite different in size. might be best to avoid horse chestnut too, as there's an increase of bleeding canker which might affect their viability:
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-6KYBGV

Macy0161

Depends where you are, but if deer are a problem, I've found Red Alder to not suffer their attention as much as other trees.

badgerhowlin

Leaving in wexford and there is no deer at all. I know alder and horse chestnut have a little difference in size
What i was thinking of was putting the HC trees at the both ends of the tree row and maybe one in the middle then alder between with some others Might have to have some kind of evergreen trees as well as my main goal is to stop the north wind blowing straight at my house and to give me a bit of shelter from it.

the lenght of the the row will be 35m-40m

My main concern is the Roots. Would they cause a problem with my percolation

Oldtree

Evergreen trees like leylandii are not good windbreaks more wind diverters. Recent trials show that the wind can be slowed down by a maximum of 50% using deciduous trees made into hedges, such as alder (used now in england around orchards) as well as the leaf litter improving the soil. Alder also set nitrogen into the soil.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72430721

how far away is the percolation and what type is it?

badgerhowlin

Dont like leylandii at all, so they wont be going anywhere near my house. Distance is about 3-4 meters away.

Oldtree

thats not very far, I would hesitate with alder/willow or poplar as their roots can get there easily and clog things up in the future esp willow. Birch may be your answer, or smaller trees like hawthorn or apple or slow growers like holly.

on a quick search this gives an indication of possible root spread that may help in your decision:

http://www.subsidencebureau.com/subsidence_trees.htm

there is the option of a root barrier installed between the perculation and the trees on planting, allowing you to be more adventuerous in your planting, used a lot in urban street planting, but I've never used one.
http://www.geosyn.co.uk/categories.asp?category_id=11

dont like lleylandii either, lots of my work is just taking the things down.

paddy147

badgerhowlin wrote: »

Hi,

Im thinking on planting a row of trees in front of my north facing side of the house. the boundary is a good 30 m away from the house. there is a septic tank and my percolation area in between the house and boundary.

What would be the best trees to grow to give a good wind break, and that would look nice.

I was tanking on planting 2 or 3 Alder trees in the row and 2 horse chestnut trees but not sure what else.

Any suggestions?

Brich trees are lovely.:)

Lovely White bark in the wintertime really stands out and then the lovely branches and small leaves swaying around in the summertime is nice to look at too.

padi89

Just to throw in pyrus chanticleer there, a gorgeous tree I wish I had the space for it. Its neat habit would look great planted in a row, I'm not sure on the roots though maybe someone more experienced can comment.

Oldtree

are the fruits edible?

padi89

Oldtree wrote: »

are the fruits edible?

No but they are pretty

periodictable

Italian alder is a large tree, fixes nitrogen and is quite resistant to disease which is hitting common alder. It's a fast grower too. Re horse chestnut-as another poster said there's a canker doing the rounds, and it has a tendency to break in high winds as it's quite brittle.
Pyrus calleryana "chanticleer" is also quite fragile in the wind due to the branch angle.
How about a staggered row of italian alder, interspaced with with mountain ash and hazel? Gives you color, varying heights, great biodiversity, flowers berries and wildlife.