Weird Question about plot screens (egyptian wheat / switchgrass)

[nrowles]

I know I'm being very picky about this, all because it's in view from the house. I want to put a screen around my food plot but I want to keep it trimmed to around 4-5 ft. This will keep my yard/kids/dog out of view from the plots but will allow us to see/view the tops of the deer from our raise deck. I cleared the trees so we could add depth to our view around the house so I don't want anything too high because of that either.

Egyptian Wheat - once it hits the height I want can I trim it? And what would happen to it at that point? Keep growing or stop growing or die and be useless?

Switchgrass - After this would be fully established, if I were to mow as high as I can each April (maybe a foot) how quickly would it grow back? Could it be back to 4ft by August? That might be asking for too much.

Is there any other screen that might work better for what I'm trying to accomplish?

 

[Bill]

Broom sedge might fill the bill with no mowing. But most switch grasss really doesn't get much hinger then 5 foot.

 

[nrowles]

ok, I've seen anywhere from 2 to 8 feet. Must depend on the type of switchgrass.

 

[Telemark]

There are varieties of switch grass that advertise those heights.

If you want something more permanent, beech and yew make great hedges.

 

[Tree Spud]

My cave in the rock SG has gotten to 7' with and average of 5-6'. Egyptian wheat, hybrid sorhgum, etc. all are good until they get wet or a heavy wind and they all collapse. Big Bluestem will get higher.

For SG it will take 3 years to get to maturity but has been the the best screening other than conifers that I have used.

 

[j-bird]

So - my switchgrass from Real World gets between 5 and 6 feet tall (the grass itself). I burn mine once in a while to combat cool season weeds in the early spring and I have full growth easily by the 4th of july. It will take 2 years to get full p[erformance out of it....but it also likes to stand up to wet snow and the like as well. It will bend due to the weight, but tends to stand right back up once the load is gone. I will have to go back in my land tour thread and see if I have any early summer pics of it to share....

 

[willy]

You can mow the switchgrass after winter as low as you want. It won't really start growing until it soil temps gets warm. In se NE this is late April at the earliest. By mid May it is definitely pushing new shoots.

Find a type of switch that gets the height you want and plant that. I planted a screen of cave n rock switch 50 yards from house for the same purpose. It is a bit too tall for seeing the deer well but it also stands up to snow very well. It can get knocked down and stands up in a day or so. My cave n rock gets to 7' mark, with 6' about a sure thing. 5 would be perfect but I don't know how well the others would stand.