Planning for Farm Windbreaks

Most farmers know what wind damage can do to a crop. Those who have invested in planting and maintaining effective windbreaks appreciate having the trees in place to protect their fields and buildings from wind. Farmers who have not planned for wind management usually wish they had windbreaks after damaging wind storms.

It is a good idea to have a windbreak and shelterbelt management plan as an important part of your environmental farm planning. Every year or two, add new trees, renovate an old ineffective tree row, fill in holes in existing windbreaks, adjust windbreaks for better winter shelter and snow drift management.

Winter is an important time to plan for tree planting projects and spring is approaching quickly. Once plans are decided, and the quantity of new trees is known, it is a good idea to place orders with private tree nurseries as soon as possible. Once spring arrives it is often difficult or impossible to obtain the numbers of trees you need because tree supplies at nurseries are often sold out by the end of March.

What types of trees make the best windbreak around farms? First, it is a good idea to plant at least 3 different species of trees in a windbreak. Is the site a dry well-drained site or is the soil heavy clay or poorly drained and wet? The quality of each site must be assessed before deciding what trees to plant. Too wet a site will not allow trees that prefer drier well-drained soil to survive. If you aren't sure what trees to use in a windbreak, the private tree nursery you order trees from have expertise to help you decide which trees are best for each site.

Conifers are the most common type of trees used in farm windbreaks. Windbreak conifers include: Norway spruce, white spruce and Colorado spruce, white pine, red pine, jack pine, Austrian pine and eastern white cedar.

Along highways and roads, where windbreaks are exposed to road salt during winter, conifers Colorado spruce, Norway spruce and Austrian pine are most tolerant to the desiccating affects of winter road salt injury. Along highways the conifers white cedar and white pine should be avoided because road salt misting onto the trees can kill the trees after several winters of exposure to salt spray.

To add more diversity, a component of deciduous trees along windbreaks can be beneficial. Deciduous trees such as sugar maples, ash, oaks and basswood can produce food for pollinating bees and other insects, can provide food and habitat for beneficial insects and birds and can add visually pleasing scenery for all seasons.

There is also interest in re-establishing treed fencerows that were once very common in southern Ontario farm lands. Treed fencerows are basically narrow strips of diverse forest that are always in a state of productive growth. Treed fencerows require some maintenance every few years to remove excessively large trees or dead trees but never need to be renovated or completely replaced.

Windbreaks around farm fields are 1 to 3 rows of trees in width and provide good protection for the crops without occupying too much of land. For additional protection, shelterbelts are wider and may have 4 to 10 rows of trees and can occupy significantly more land area. Wide shelterbelts are most often used to shelter farm buildings, barns and livestock feeding areas, where added protection is desirable.

Spring is a time when many fields receive herbicide applications to control weeds. Many healthy windbreak trees are damaged every year by herbicide drift. Herbicides can drift onto windbreak trees from your own fields and can drift from neighbouring farm fields, so very be careful when apply herbicides near trees to avoid damage.

Trees are an investment on farm land and can be put to work to resolve many problems and conserve energy. Farmers can contact their local MNR Stewardship councils and their local Conservation Authorities for additional tree planting advice for each farm property.

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