Food plot screens?

I have done a lot of hinge cutting and made some screens but i want to plant something, i will plant pine trees next year, and if i plant it will be next year too. Any ideas for instant cover, tall grasses, or pines, thanks.

Here is a pic of the plot.

it is about an 1/8 acre and all the sides look like that.

 

We sell a product called Plot Screen. It needs to be planted in May or June to reach 10 to 12 feet in height.
Check it out at Northwoods Whitetails, Inc.
John

 

ive seen many diffrent screen crops, yours looks to be the cheapest and the tallest, however it is sold out

 

Short term. EgyptianWheat( plotscreen) planted in May reaches 10-12 feet bought at a feed mill cheap. Long term-spice bush, button bush, silky dogwood, Norway spruce given enough sunlight.

 

Egyptian wheat is a good one to have an immediate screen, but you will have to plant it every year. A more permanent solution would be to plant rows of Red Cedars, they are slow growing but you can use EW until the Cedars are large enough to provide the screen.

 

OP asked about instant screening. Our plot screen will do just that. Long term solution is shrubs, cedars, norway spruce, switch grass or a combo of all.
We are sold out now, but will have plent in January.
I use this in combination with Norway Spruce to form temporary screens while the trees reach proper height.

 

I just let the grass grow up. It gets to about 7 ft.

 

What exactly is in your screen? I'm weary and suspicious of products that are not fully disclosed as to contents. When I look at a site and it has a product such as your screens and doesn't tell what I'm getting....I just move on. The problem is that there are a lot of things out there that are non-native species that could potentially turn into noxious invasive species. I want to know exactly what a product is so I can research it fully before spending money on a potential problem.

As an example, Sericea lespedeza....I still see it being sold as seed for planting....no kidding.

 

I used John's plot screen this year. To this point, I am very happy with it.

 

Thats good but still doesn't tell me what it is. Without knowing what it is I won't use it or promote it.

 

Its egyptian wheat. We are testing other stuff, but egyptian wheat works the best.
John

 

Ahh, thank you very much. Yes it is a good plant.

 

how long will that take?

 

It's a 120+ day maturity but seed heads will be wildlife useable by 110 days. For screen purposes, it's growth rate is similar to Sun Hemp and it would have time to reach 5-6' tall planted now. Should be planted in zone 5 by may-early June.

 

I have used EW as a screen till my Norways mature for a long time. Plot and shining screens.

 

Get the sudangrass variety of sorghum which can grow over 7 ft. tall. It is available at most seed mills or farmer's elevators.

 

Egyptian wheat makes an awesome screen. Keep in mind that you NEED to put down Nitrogen before you plant and it wouldn't hurt to side dress it while it's growing. EW loves nitrogen. I have some planted in screens this year and I didn't follow everyone's suggestion to put down the nitrogen. It just isn't reaching it's full potential in those places. Other places where I had soybeans planted last year(which will put lots of nitrogen in the soil), it is looking amazing. It's over 10 feet tall, maybe close to 12 feet.

 

120 days sounds about right. It also depends on soil temp and weather. It was a cold, wet spring here (U.P. of Michigan) and our screens got off to a very slow start. July was decent, but now it is highs in the low 70's, and at night it is 40's and 50's. Last year I had 10 to 12 foot tall screens, this year I am hoping for 7 to 8 feet. Only thing diferrent is the cooler weather.

 

We've planted EW and sorghum. Both serve the purpose, as the purpose served is very simple.

However, I actually prefer sorghum to EW, because it doesn't grow as tall. Our sorghum will top out at 7-8 feet, while the EW grows 10-12, as others have stated. The problem with that is during the winter once the EW dies it's so top heavy it breaks in half and isn't as thick. Meanwhile, the sorghum, while shorter, is much more stable and stays thicker well into the winter.

In a nutshell, I would sacrifice a few feet of height with the EW for the stability and long term thickness of the sorghum.

 

I plant my EW with corn as a support to hold the EW up. I plant the corn in rows as I have a planter. 4 rows of corn @ 36" with the EW makes a very thick screen. As I know the price of seed corn is pricey I dont use seed corn. Living on a farm I just use some of last years corn pickings as I'm not looking for cob size but stalk stability for the EW.The corn is easily 6-8 ft in height.