Replies

1. 
   Gabe | Jul 17, 2004 03:34am | #1

    I need to plant evergreen trees for privacy. Why do your trees have to have privacy? 

   Along a boundary 200' long. They won't grow on the horizontal, you have stand em up.

   What species Bonzai, size, full grown etc ., how big Not very, spaced how far apart at 100 bucks a pop, you may want to spread em far apart.

   East coast.

   Get west coast trees so that you will be able to identify them when they're stolen.

   Always ready to help

   Gabe

1. 
   CloudHidden | Jul 17, 2004 06:30am | #6

   Damn, that was funny! You oughta put that in the joke thread. Someone spike your iced tea? :)

1. 
   Gabe | Jul 17, 2004 02:19pm | #7

   No it's Friday and it's a loss day because of the rain.

   Gabe

1. 
   CloudHidden | Jul 17, 2004 02:36pm | #8

   Aww, c'mon. Throw down a little straw and you're good to go.

1. 
   Gabe | Jul 17, 2004 03:16pm | #9

   Not to worry. The outside clay may be a little wet but I made sure that the inside had a layer of stone down asap.

   Work continues between the rain drops.

   Gabe

2. 
   andybuildz | Jul 17, 2004 03:28pm | #10

   Gabe

   That property looks like mine.....ugh....I have a dozer out front right now and as soon as the ground dries up a bit we'll be scooping it down and bringing in some topsoil before I plant.

   The clay in the front and rear is clay you could throw pots with.Pretty intense stuff.

   Actually 325 years ago they used it to make the bricks the chimmeny and some of the basement walls are made of....The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

2. 
   Piffin | Jul 17, 2004 03:51am | #2

   Around here the arbor vitae (bushy cedar) were very popular for that but they have a problem with deer eating them now so they have to be fenced in for five or six years until they get healthy enough. They go every four feet or thereabouts.

   I like the look of the Canadian Hemlocks, full enough for privacy but lacy looking foliage. Unfortunately, they have been subject to some sort of disease around here so every third one does. Not so good for privacy

   Scotch pines will fill your bill. They get Pretty thick and gnarly. Plant them every ten feet or so. Another better way to do evergreens for a privacy hedge is to smack therm in on a diagonal zig-zag pattern. they fill up the opewn holes better that way

   check your local arborists and nursureies and County Extension office, both for suggestions and to be sure what grows or not and what diseases to watch out for in your locale.

    

    

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   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   andybuildz | Jul 17, 2004 03:38pm | #11

   << Around here the arbor vitae (bushy cedar)>>

   Paul,

   Soon as we do some more excavation work here (the dozers out front right now with my new sign ontop of it :)

   we're having those bushy arbor vitaeies planted along the road.

   They'll be about 12' high and about $1100 for all of em'.

   Lacing about 100+' of road frontage.

   This clay really sux....can't wait to see how it goes after things dry up and we start excavating again.

   Theres also a bog/swamp behind my house that is supposidly a protected area that I need permits to deal with.

   Guess what? I think I'm going to take some of the clay I need to get rid of and fill half the bog in..shhhhhhhhh....There are more mesquitoes raiding my house and family from it than its worth. we're so bit up that my daughter was crying one night cause she couldnt sleep she was so itchy in spite of the repellent we use.

   So the choice is..fill most of it in or use poison in the bog....or come down with a case of West Nile disease eventually.

   Whatcha think?

   andyThe secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

1. 
   Piffin | Jul 17, 2004 11:04pm | #20

   I think a lot of things....LOL

   I think that filling a protected wetland can net you big fines and an order to restore to original conditions.

   I'm not arguing whether that is right or wrong, just pointing out that it IS ( a form of your favorite verb, to be)

   But I know that you don't want to BE bitten either. There are some other solutions I think.

   There is a new thing called the mosquito magnet that lots of people swear by. I can't vouch personally about it, but it sounds promising.

   There is a BT type product that you can add to the water that gives the mosquito larvae a bacterial infection or something. Ihaven't ried that either, but it sounds ecologically sound.

   I also think that I am exceedingly blessed. For some reason,( I have a theory or two) I apparantly smell bad to mosquitoes. I can stand in a swarm that has everyone else doing a swat dance and smearing blood spots all over themselves and I only get two or three bites. The greater inconvenience for me is having them fly into my mouth, nose, eyes and ears.

   I has been a wet spring here so far so they are predicting a worse year for W Nile Virus. I hope you do find a solution. My wife and daughter both scar easily from any skin break, including a scratched skeeter bite, so they use plenty of avon Skin so Soft and DEET containing products.

    

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   DANL | Jul 18, 2004 01:04am | #22

   There are larvacides you can put in the bog. Around here the counties are giving the larvacide away free on request. Also, around here, a developer just got a prison sentence for filling it a wetland. Your wife and kids would do better with you on the outside.

   I asked a guy I was working with in a special subdivision (whereabouts, name and much more description will be withheld to protect the not so innocent) that had a "water feature" that drained to a nearby thingy. I asked how they got all the permits and so on to do that and he said, "I just came out here with my bulldozer in the middle of the night and did it." But I think those days are gone. Lot's more regulation, and lots of nosy people to trun you in.

   On the other hand, someone else did get permission to fill at wetland, as long as they "created" one to replace it. So they scraped away the topsoil alongside a busy highway (esp. busy because it connects Midland to the casino) and threw in a couple hundred trees in little plastic sleeves to protect them from the deer. Big write up in the paper about it and the genious landscape archy that did it. Don't know how long it's been--going on ten years I guess. The place looks like ####. Bunch of dead sticks sticking out of most of the plastic sleeves.

1. 
   andybuildz | Jul 18, 2004 01:24am | #23

   Dan

   thanks for the info....I'll ask the town about it.The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

2. 
   WorkshopJon | Jul 17, 2004 07:35pm | #16

   45417.3 in reply to 45417.1 

   Around here the arbor vitae (bushy cedar) were very popular for that but they have a problem with deer eating them now so they have to be fenced in for five or six years until they get healthy enough."

   Piffin,

   We have more than our fair share and a half of deer here, and Arbor Vitae are also very popular as a screen tree.  The thing I've notice is that the deer (and rabbits) really go for the "Emerald Green" variety, but never touch the "#### Green" ones (the two most popular).  They would even rather go for an Austrian Pine before, and that seems to be the tree of last resort.

   Another plus is that the #### Green ones grow about 50% faster, though are scrubbier looking.

   Jon

1. 
   Piffin | Jul 17, 2004 11:13pm | #21

   I knew there were severaal varieties, but not being an arborist except by intrest, I couldn't be that specific.

   Since this is an island, the increase in size of deeer heard creates some population pressure on them and they start nibbling on things that are normally not on their diet. Some varieties do better tah others but they are all subject to "de(er)foliation" 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

3. 
   UncleDunc | Jul 17, 2004 04:00am | #3

   I see questions like this from time to time at Over the Fence, fourth button in the second row of buttons at the top of the window. What's the climate like where you live? Google for USDA zone map and find your location. How tall do they need to get? How wide a strip can you cover with trees? How long can you wait to establish a solid screen? Do you need foliage all the way down to the grown, or is it OK to be able to see between the trunks? Can you provide water, or do they need to live on what falls out of the sky?

4. 
   VaTom | Jul 17, 2004 04:52am | #4

   I can set you up with American boxwoods, 9' tall, spacing 6' oc.  No delivery.  If you have full sun, not a good idea.

   PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!

5. 
   hammer1 | Jul 17, 2004 05:35am | #5

   Balsam fir do well in the northeast. They keep their lower branches unlike many pines. Grow fast, can be trimmed, smell great, insect and diseases are not usually a problem. A seedling will grow into a 20' tree in 15 yrs if allowed to go, 10' at the skirt. Plant a bunch and you can thin them out at Christmas. They like the sun but take care of themselves otherwise.

6. 
   DANL | Jul 17, 2004 04:20pm | #12

   Piffin had good reply: Scotch pine--grows fast, is dense, is relatively inexpensive. Should be able to get seedilings from youe soil conservation district (if it's anything like Michigan). Scotch pine will grow in almost any conditions. If you want bigger than seedlings, local nursery should give you a deal on a large number of them. They would be able to tell you the spacing, depending on size of the trees. But like, I think it was Piffin said, go dense and thin them later. (They are so so as Christmas trees. Balsam is better, but more expensive.) If you're just looking for cheap screening or even windbreak, I'd say Scotch pine.

1. 
   DavidxDoud | Jul 17, 2004 04:25pm | #13

   deer don't like scotch pine,  if that's a factor - - but scotch pine is the least attractive (IMO) of the species mentioned - - maybe Kudzu?  screen it in a year..."there's enough for everyone"

1. 
   Sphere | Jul 17, 2004 04:53pm | #14

   or what we have here...put up a fence and let Virginia Creeper fill it in...nasty stuff.

   I don't wish Kudzu on any one...some maroon visited my place in NC..just stopped his his car, got out with his kids in tow (4) and started to feed my goats ....KUDZU.

   I was home and stopped him, luckily...ONE seed passed thru a goat and I woulda had the dreaded invasion.

   After I informed him that I don't have any kudzu, nor do Iwant any..he could go to the barrles of day old bread I keep on hand and after feeding the goats that..the kids could grab a pitchfork and muck out the shanty..funny, he never came back.

   Back to the topic...I REALLY like Concolor Firs...they smell citrusy and are one of the best xmas trees for that reason. 

   Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

   Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations. 

2. 
   DANL | Jul 17, 2004 09:16pm | #19

   Yeah, Kudzu or Norfolk Island Pine.

7. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Jul 17, 2004 06:41pm | #15

   Find a good local nursery.  They'll have a much better understanding of what plants grow well in your area than some random collection of folks on the web spread all over the country.

8. 
   WorkshopJon | Jul 17, 2004 07:41pm | #17

   Red,

   See my prior post to Piffin.

   Also, Three to four feet spacing of #### Green's will get you a blind 10' tall hedge row in five years, with good soil and starting with 4' er's (tall).

   $15.00 to $25.00 each at the right time out here. SE WI

   Jon

1. 
   WorkshopJon | Jul 17, 2004 07:46pm | #18

   Opps I see Prospero won't let me use the name for the variety,.It's Nigra Green.

   Edited 7/17/2004 12:52 pm ET by WorkshopJon