Miscanthus VS Hybrid Willows with pine trees

[Binney59]

I need to screen off about 300 yds of fields that border roads at my property and was about to order a few hundred hybrid willows that are already established (approx 5' tall) along with 200 black spruce (2-3'). I was about to pull the trigger but then circled back to miscanthus and am now second guessing going with pines and hybrid willows.

I feel as though the Miscanthus would probably establish a screen that lasts later into the fall and in the end will cost approximately the same (miscanthus will be more up font but similar cost in the long run). Once pines get established they seem great but that will obviously take quite a few years and more plantings.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also- the property is in Central Wisconsin, sandy soil but decent top soil (fields currently in production). I have access to an auger for my tractor to plant as well. Thanks!

 

[sandbur]

Miscanthus has not done well for two of us that are in zone 4, but near zone 3. My miscanthus on lighter soil barely survived the first year. For my buddy on heavier soil, it seems to have faded away.


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[Wind Gypsy]

I'm in a similar boat with needing to screen a road. If Miscanthus was reliably cold hardy for my location I would choose that without second thought, but it's not.

 

[willy]

Sanbur, do you think miscanthus would do well near eagle bend, mn? My buddy wants to plant a screen on his property there.

Thanks for pondering

 

[Tree Spud]

I need to screen off about 300 yds of fields that border roads at my property and was about to order a few hundred hybrid willows that are already established (approx 5' tall) along with 200 black spruce (2-3'). I was about to pull the trigger but then circled back to miscanthus and am now second guessing going with pines and hybrid willows.

I feel as though the Miscanthus would probably establish a screen that lasts later into the fall and in the end will cost approximately the same (miscanthus will be more up font but similar cost in the long run). Once pines get established they seem great but that will obviously take quite a few years and more plantings.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also- the property is in Central Wisconsin, sandy soil but decent top soil (fields currently in production). I have access to an auger for my tractor to plant as well. Thanks!

I do both. 2 rows of spruce near the road staggered, then a double row of MG, then 2 tows of spruce on field side.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Black spruce grow slow on upland sandy soil. I have a bunch growing that I transplanted as seedlings from my swamp, but they grow pretty slow and I wouldn't recommend them. On my sandy Rusk County WI soil I've had the best luck with red pines and white spruce for visual screens (eventually the red pines self prune their lower branches though, I wouldn't use only red pines). White pines are also fine, but they are browsed more heavily and they end up funny shaped when the terminal shoot dies off. They also self prune eventually as the upper branches shade the lower portions of the tree.

I also planted hybrid willows and they grew really fast the first year, but died in the winter. Hybrid poplars and cottonwoods are fast growing options that will do well if they get enough water to survive the first year. I planted some of those trees in 2007 and they are big enough to hold a treestand now.

If I had to start a new visual screen or windbreak I would use white spruce as the main component and then add in a few other species for some variety.

 

[Binney59]

Black spruce grow slow on upland sandy soil. I have a bunch growing that I transplanted as seedlings from my swamp, but they grow pretty slow and I wouldn't recommend them. On my sandy Rusk County WI soil I've had the best luck with red pines and white spruce for visual screens (eventually the red pines self prune their lower branches though, I wouldn't use only red pines). White pines are also fine, but they are browsed more heavily and they end up funny shaped when the terminal shoot dies off. They also self prune eventually as the upper branches shade the lower portions of the tree.

I also planted hybrid willows and they grew really fast the first year, but died in the winter. Hybrid poplars and cottonwoods are fast growing options that will do well if they get enough water to survive the first year. I planted some of those trees in 2007 and they are big enough to hold a treestand now.

If I had to start a new visual screen or windbreak I would use white spruce as the main component and then add in a few other species for some variety.

Where are you located that they died off? My zone looks like it should be ok but I’m a bit nervous to invest time and money and then have them potentially die off.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Where are you located that they died off? My zone looks like it should be ok but I’m a bit nervous to invest time and money and then have them potentially die off.

My Rusk County Wisconsin property is where the hybrid willows died off in the winter. They would grow 3-6' in the spring/summer and then die back to ground level in the winter. After a few years they died all together.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

My Rusk County Wisconsin property is where the hybrid willows died off in the winter. They would grow 3-6' in the spring/summer and then die back to ground level in the winter. After a few years they died all together.

Very interesting, was planning on planting a row of hybrid willow cuttings as part of a screen this year. Where did you get them from? Bigrocktrees has then listed as hardy to zone 2 so I hadn’t even considered them struggling in winter.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I cut the hybrid willow cuttings from a tree growing in SE MN. Those trees grow great in SE MN, but could not survive in Rusk County WI. I even tried growing them in a pot for a year first so they could develop a great root system and that still didn't help.