Screen for plot near roadway

I have a two acre plot I want to plant in corn this summer, the plot is near a roadway and I'm looking for a good screen recommendation until I can get something planted as a long term screen/break.

 

Depends what kind of money you're wanting to spend. Folks around my area plant these bushes that grow great big along their roadways, or even evergreens. But most people (on here) plant Egyptian Wheat for an early season/fall screen. My understand tho, is that by winter the snow will knock it down.

I'm assuming you would like a screen for late season after the corn is knocked down or harvested? Why not leave a couple rows of corn standing near the road. That'll be plenty of a screen.

 

Check out hybrid willows

 

EW will be blown down in a thunderstorm or strong winds, it does look really good until the storm comes. EW needs nitrogen so you will have to do a soil test and fertilize to get the best results.

 

I looked at the willows as a long term solution, but in the mean time I was looking for temporary screen for a season or two before the willows kick off.

 

That was my first thought as well...

 

Here is a view of the plot with the roadway to the right if this helps. I wanted to plant the corn in a L shape along the road and the far tree line leaving a smaller opening behind the pole barn for clover/a fall plot. everything enters from that upper left corner.

 

I would definitely leave the corn standing closes to the road. 4-6 rows ought to be plenty of screen for them.

You could also do a privacy fence? Seems like that would be rather expensive for only being a temporary solution.

 

How busy does that road get?

 

It gets a fair amount of travel, its a township road that leads to a small town.

 

I feel like EW won't do very well with all the cars flying by, corn or something similar (Sunflowers) with a sturdy stalk would do well I'd think.

 

Pines / Cedars if you've got plenty of time :D

~Bill

 

Based on the picture I'm not sure there's a really good "short" term solution. Pines are going to by you best bet, but they are long term. Looking at the photo there's a lot of elevation from the left to right (road). That elevation is going to make it tough to hide critters on the top of the hill.

 

These are Hybrid Willow after 1 year and 2 years. For a screen plant at 4 feet apart 2 rows at 4 feet apart

 

Those willows grow fast


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Yes they do Chris..The soil you plant them in has a lot to do with growth also along with weed control. Willows love wet soil. I also have 4x4 weed mat down. They were planted as 8 inch cuttings and grew 8-10 feet the first year and were 12-16 feet after 2 years. The deer love them as browse so protecting them is a must the first year..They also like to rub on them

 

Interesting. Learn something new every day! They sure did grow fast.

 

Egyptian wheat works great if fertilized correctly. I was looking at mine again this week and it's still standing strong. My coworker that plants it , i have February pics on the shores of Lake Superior, where they get about as much snow as anyone. Most companies products are egyptian wheat but they can't make money selling it nameD as that , so they need to put a fancier name on it..

Egyptian is really a variety of sorghum. There are other tall, strong stalk varieties but the genetics has changed on the sorghums.There is basically 3 traits now. You want a more forage type without the bmr or wmr trait and you also might want to look at a dry stalk variety. I have names of a number of them that i can share with people. I look at about 18 varieties each day and will have a sorghum trial going on this year to share pics with people.

There is also the options of native grasses such as big blue stem and switchgrass.

Another option is to plant a grain corn that is more a dual purpose type with a longer maturity. There are some varieties i'd not want to chop for silage but make excellent screening.

 

Here is a photo of Egyptian Wheat as a screen near a road I used. It gets very top heavy and a good storm will do a lot of damage to it come fall if not planted wide enough. 12-14 feet wide for a good screen. It needs a lot of Nitrogen to grow properly. Once it is growing broadcast Urea into it to give it an additional boost.

 

Most silage corn grows about 10' or more.