Windproofing trees

[drinksloe]

Alright

 

Just wondering with all this wind coupled with the wet ground wot can u actually do to windproof trees?

Is there some best practiice advice rather than just common sense?

I know it will be somewot situation and species dependent.

 

I imagine the obvious things like taking ivy of the braches or even stem if heavily ivy'd.

 

I knew some lads that spent months topping of softwoods on the edge of woodlands as the owner used them as pheasant drives.

 

But is there anything a bit less sevre/more natural looking than just hacking the tops off??

 

In paticular i have a cracking big doug fir, must be well over 100ft and right nice shape, but with a north wind it could just reach my newly renovated house, probably far enough away not to do too much damage,but a tree of the size is coming down with a fair old clatter.

And a good chance it would squash my LPG tank.

The doug is a nice shape so ideally i don't want to betaking too much of the top or too many branches of it to spoil the shape

There is actually 2 quite nice leyandi trees just north of the nice Doug which do most of the blowing about so do shelter it a lot from the worst of the north winds.

 

I thought about topping the furtherest north tree hardest and possibly cut every either 2,3 or 4th branch of to reduce the 'sail' but try to kep the shape, bit less on the next 1 and just a slight bit of the Doug?

 

 

Also if i do top or even fell some trees elsewhere on my own ground are u liable at all if that then opens some of ur neighbours trees up to the wind and they then blow over??

Got a quite steep bank with some decent sized Sycamores on it, in my opinoon their getting too big for the banking and soil conditions and just a matter of time before they start to blow. 

But worried as there is a strange boundry and right at a point a neighbours ground comes in with 3 big sycamore/beech which if they blew from a north wind could easy hit a 3rd neighbours house.

I'd ideally like to replant it with more scrubby types trees, hazel, thorns, rowans etc

 

Cheers

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

I remember Reg Coates had a job whereby he was going up large conifers at the edge of a stand and thinning the top 6/7 mètres, so not topping but taking out a good few branches but leaving the very top and just a few laterals, reducing the sail effect of the very top.

It’s a while back now, and I don’t know if it’s a recognized practice, think this was in Canada

[Khriss]

I would look at the ground first - well draining soil so root plate doesnt waterlog, plant other trees around, to buffer the wind ( bit longer term effort) and regular inspection so you least get early warning of problem. K

[Puffingbilly413]

2 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I remember Reg Coates had a job whereby he was going up large conifers at the edge of a stand and thinning the top 6/7 mètres, so not topping but taking out a good few branches but leaving the very top and just a few laterals, reducing the sail effect of the very top.

It’s a while back now, and I don’t know if it’s a recognized practice, think this was in Canada

Think I've seen that one. And on Billy Ray's channel where they spiral prune - seems to create the illusion of a natural canopy when viewed from different angles but let's wind pass through it. Also in BC.

[devon TWiG]

I have done quite a few 30 m  DF s in recent times to reduce the chance of windthrow , I have removed or reduced side branches which are most catching to the wind ...eg if wind is from the North then remove / reduce in upper canopy the branches which protrude to the East and West ( bit like sticking your arms out sideways in a headwind ) and remove a whorl or 2 or 3  ..this is more aesthetically pleasing than a basic 5 metres off the top ...

 

[Andrew McEwan]

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/forestgales/

 

This is worth running through for your land/soil/exposure/species, have used it and seen it improve over the years.