Screen tree options

Rueger6097

Buck Fawn
I have approxinately 360 feet along a property line I would like to screen. I am in Maryland, and the trees would be going in along an old field that is just mowed for now. I was leaning towards Norway spruce, maybe white or scotch pine? I haven't done any screening before, so I am also looking for recommendations where to buy? I have my favorite fruit tree nurseries and I know what to expect from them, but don't know where to start with these.
 
Both of those pines would be good options, and native to your area.
 
I'm a fan of spruce trees since they tend to keep their lower branches longer than the pines. I don't know what spruce varieties are best in your area, but white spruce is a great option here.

In MN and WI the state nurseries are great places to make bulk tree purchases of 500 or greater.
 
In my area, any white pine that survives not being browsed will get rubbed and killed anyway.
 
Musser Forests has a lot of options and are inexpensive - https://www.musserforests.com/ Green Giant Arborvitae are pretty deer proof unless its like this winter and they're hammering everything. Agree with the above that spruces tend to hold their lower branches longer. If you have full sun (like on the south edge of a field), a lot of things will do well and stay full, but if you have some shade, they'll thin out faster. Red Spruce is a good option if you don't have full sun, but it might be too warm in MD.
 
I would go with the Norway spruce. I planted 300 plus mostly scotch pine, some white and blue spruce to screen my food plot from the road. The scotch grew supper fast and did a good job, but now they are getting thin on the bottom. They don't seem to have the strongest limbs either. I've lost some to snow, wind, deer and sap suckers. The white spruce are doing ok but they are really slow. I now buy Norway to fill in gaps. I've also transplanted a lot of balsam fir to the screen. They are tough trees. Fast growing,deer proof, look great if they get sunlight and also thrive in the shade.
 
Having planted a BATCH of them, I'd go with Norway spruce as well. They are the fastest-growing spruce, according to any spruce reports I've ever read from many sources. They'll hold their limbs close to the ground for an effective screen / windbreak for YEARS. Norways grow fastest in sunlight. If you have a lot of deer, you might want to cage them to get them started. Deer will nip the top, tender growth in bad winters when food is in short supply. If you have farms & ag fields around you to supply other forage, you may be able to go without cages. Bucks DO like to rub on spruce when they get about 4 to 8 ft. tall. We cage ours for those reasons, until they get to about 8 ft. tall or greater. We have NO ag around our camp, so the spruce get nipped in winter - and bucks will rub them at our place.

I planted a row of Norways back in 1997 along a logged area next to a mountain road that borders our property. For a number of years now, that line of spruce has been a living green "wall" that drivers CANNOT see through for "road-shooting" purposes.
 
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I have approxinately 360 feet along a property line I would like to screen. I am in Maryland, and the trees would be going in along an old field that is just mowed for now. I was leaning towards Norway spruce, maybe white or scotch pine? I haven't done any screening before, so I am also looking for recommendations where to buy? I have my favorite fruit tree nurseries and I know what to expect from them, but don't know where to start with these.

Western Maryland where it’s mountains or Eastern where it’s flat?

If it’s flat ground and you don’t need 30 foot trees I’d recommend at least researching Miscanthus giaganteus grass. Do a search right here. It’s a screen in 3 to 4 years versus 10.

And you could always do both.
 
Im in the eastern part of the state, pretty flat around here. Looking at Musser forests, looks like they have all the options everyone named...looks like I will just have to decide what to try.

As far as the Miscanthus, is there a site recommended ordering from? I wouldnt mind trying that as well, I have some smaller plots that could use a little extra screening.
 
Im in the eastern part of the state, pretty flat around here. Looking at Musser forests, looks like they have all the options everyone named...looks like I will just have to decide what to try.

As far as the Miscanthus, is there a site recommended ordering from? I wouldnt mind trying that as well, I have some smaller plots that could use a little extra screening.

haven’t searched and compared lately but when I was looking. https://mapleriverfarms.com had the best pricing.
 
Miscanthus can get pretty ratty pretty fast during the winter and quickly dies out in the center. It also can be pretty invasive in some areas. You might want to try switchgrass, which holds up real well and can get just as tall in the right conditions. Below is some 'Northwind' switchgrass now, after getting pounded by a ton of snow. This is a great source - https://www.izelplants.com/search/switchgrass. The Thundercloud cultivar looks like just the right thing - here's some more information on it - apparently it can get to 7-8 feet - http://www.perennialresource.com/variety.php?ID=PANTH The Thundercloud looks so darn good I just ordered up a flat of it in the middle of writing this!
 

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It also can be pretty invasive in some areas.

I disagree that Miscanthus X Giganteus can become invasive. Perhaps other Miscanthus grasses can but Giganteus was bread as a biofuel. It is completely sterile and there are thousands of acres of it planted in Iowa and other places. The only way for it to spread is by rhizome. (Root cutting).

I have stratified the seed heads personally and tried to get them to germinate. Doesn’t work, they are sterile.
It does have center die off but in the 8 years it been a screen at my place that isn’t a problem. It just grows wider each year and the new shoots create a screen.

I’ve considered burning it off to see if that helps with center die off but haven’t yet. 6 foot switch grass might create some screening but many pickups would be able to see over it as the tops get thin. 12 foot tall MG is a wall.

You can see from the previous years dead growth this pic was prior to it’s finished growing height. I would pit it against any switch grass screen out there.

A78CEC1C-4C13-488E-9094-74AA1935D874.png
 
Bill - Is MG something that will do OK in Jersey or Pa. ?? Or is it more for warmer states ?? I have no experience with it.
 
Bill - Is MG something that will do OK in Jersey or Pa. ?? Or is it more for warmer states ?? I have no experience with it.
My does good in zone 5 here in MI, it's a little slower to take off but I think it's because of heavy clay soil not hardiness zone. I have a couple friends that have lighter soils and theirs took off quick but we're all about the same after a few years.
 
If I tried to grow MG along the edge of a corn/bean field, what are the odds that my farmer spraying the crops would kill the MG?
 
If I tried to grow MG along the edge of a corn/bean field, what are the odds that my farmer spraying the crops would kill the MG?
I'd say pretty likely. Unless you make contingency plans.
 
Just make sure you ask your source if the plants are sterile. The article referenced in this addy/site di8scusses research done in the midwest and may be of interest to those planting MG. I belive that while it is technical in nature, it is an interesting read.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12057

From the article ......
"Drawbacks of a clonal production system, namely the high costs of vegetative planting and limited opportunity to improve yields through traditional breeding techniques (Quinn, Allen & Stewart 2010), have spurred efforts to engineer fertile varieties of M. × giganteus (Yu et al. 2009). A report in the agricultural media indicates that commercialization of a fertile‐seeded M. × giganteus variety is imminent (Ross 2011). Several production scenarios have been proposed to prevent or limit escape of fertile M. × giganteus seed. Seed production fields, strategically placed in areas with low invasion risk, planted with M. sinensis Andress. and M. sacchariflorus (Maxim.) Hack. could generate predominantly triploid F1 M. × giganteus seed for planting in biomass production fields (Quinn, Allen & Stewart 2010). Additionally, functional sterility could be used where late flowering genotypes are planted in northern latitudes allowing little or no time for seed maturation prior to the onset of winter (Quinn, Allen & Stewart 2010). It is crucial to understand what threshold of seed viability must be avoided to prevent escape and spread of M. × giganteus."
 
Regarding center die off, has anyone on this site tried to dig a clump from the edge of the miscanthus ring and transplant it to the empty center to restart the expansion process? Ive been wondering if this would work.
 
Another way to deal with center die-out is to remove 1/2 to 2/3 of an existing clump (getting all of the die out) and let the remaining piece become the center of the plant. While as much or more work than the edge-to-center transplant, now you have additional clumps to plant; however, depending on how you "thin" each existing plant, you may not have the neat orderly row you started with ... if that makes any difference to you. Lastly, please remember ... digging miscanthusc is not an easy task .. good luck!
 
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