Easy/Free windbreak hedging - recycle Christmas Trees!

I popped into the small holding of a friend at the weekend, to say hi. Met her lovely goats, pigs and sheep.

I commented on the collection of christmas trees on the property.

She advertises her property as a dump site for old christmas trees, and gets few hundred each year. A couple at a time get thrown to the goats through the winter months for browse. When the goats have had their turn she drags them into a long dead-hedge arrangement that cuts one of her fields in half. Her land is on a very exposed and windswept slope, so these thick dead hedges provide much needed shelter for her livestock.  Ultimately she is anticipating  that there will be some natural regeneration where the dead hedge is, and a living hedge will form. Birds will perch and drop seed etc... and the dead hedging will provide some protection from browsing livestock.

It looked like a neat arrangement. I'll keep tabs on it over the next few years to see how the regeneration goes.

It occurred to me that Christmas trees are often a free and valuable resource. I just hadn't figured out a way to use them, beyond burning.

That does sound like a good idea. I rather chaotically pile up my coppice prunings and they definitely shelter an area and I can see the grass and other plants growing more lushly. In more exposed areas I find larger branches and small trees do move around, so I would need to construct some retention method - stakes or such to stop them tumbleweeding away....
One potential drawback, which may or may not be an issue depending on the location, is that when I clear away these twiggy piles for kindling, I often find the remains of pignuts that nibblers have obviously taken there to eat. I suspect that other tasty shoots may well get eaten too. Alternatively, they may stash hazels and other nuts and help with the shelterbelt planting.

One side of my 40 acres is a dead hedge fence.  It is at least 5 feet across if not more in places.

It is made of mostly cedar and oak.  I am not sure how long it has been there though I have been here since 2013.  It borders my neighbor's land and on my side, it used to be an airport runway.

This dead hedge provides homes for whatever wildlife wants to live there.  I don't venture that far away from the house often enough to see what might live there.

Great idea your friend had about using the Christmas Trees.

Not what I was expecting from the title!  I thought this would be about planting Noble/Doug/Fraser firs to make a live hedge.  

As an aside, I have been wanting to plant my own private Christmas tree stand for years, but kept missing the native plant sale where seedlings were cheap. Then covid hit.  Now that covid is finally winding down, maybe I can do something.

Sounds like a great idea… but are there concerns about pesticides? I have heard that Christmas trees can be highly sprayed: is this a worry when feeding it to animals?

Hi,  Andrew wrote

Not what I was expecting from the title!  I thought this would be about planting Noble/Doug/Fraser firs to make a live hedge.  

As an aside, I have been wanting to plant my own private Christmas tree stand for years, but kept missing the native plant sale where seedlings were cheap. Then covid hit.  Now that covid is finally winding down, maybe I can do something.

I started a pine headgerow fron seeds.  2 years to seedling then planted in larger container. 2 years then planted in ground. After 7 years I have 5' trees.

What about potential fire danger from so much dead debris in long piles? If wind blows uphill from the pile it could drive the flames toward homestead structures. I think I'd consider a live hedgerow instead.

Denise Cares wrote:What about potential fire danger from so much dead debris in long piles? If wind blows uphill from the pile it could drive the flames toward homestead structures. I think I'd consider a live hedgerow instead.

Are you addressing my comment about one side of my property being a dead hedge fence?

One side of my 40 acres is a dead hedge fence.  It is at least 5 feet across if not more in places.

As for my property since it is 40 acres the long pile is a long way from my house or my neighbor's house.

Since I am on top of a mountain and there is an abandoned airstrip between my house and the pile I feel we have enough safeguards in place so we do not need to worry about the fire from that pile.

Though that is a good warning for others that might be considering an easy/free windbreak hedging.

What a wonderful idea! I have to admit that the felling of countless trees for Christmas is one of my biggest pet hates; especially in a climate crisis, so to see them being recycled in this way gives me hope. Thank you!

Why not get angry? such trees can be cut down and I am in favor of this idea

Anne Miller wrote:

Denise Cares wrote:What about potential fire danger from so much dead debris in long piles? If wind blows uphill from the pile it could drive the flames toward homestead structures. I think I'd consider a live hedgerow instead.

Are you addressing my comment about one side of my property being a dead hedge fence?

One side of my 40 acres is a dead hedge fence.  It is at least 5 feet across if not more in places.

As for my property since it is 40 acres the long pile is a long way from my house or my neighbor's house.

Since I am on top of a mountain and there is an abandoned airstrip between my house and the pile I feel we have enough safeguards in place so we do not need to worry about the fire from that pile.

Though that is a good warning for others that might be considering an easy/free windbreak hedging.

Yes Anne, the arrangement of your dead hedge was the reason for my concern. Fire typically burns uphill (toward the top of a mountain) rather than down and when driven by wind the sparks can be carried a long way. 40 acres is not so big when you know the devastation of thousands of acres burned by the blazes in the western states in recent years. It takes merely minutes to consume grassland as well as forests and everything in between. These fires have also jumped major highways (4-6 lanes), so an airstrip is not a secure fire barrier - again think of wind blown sparks especially when flames are shooting hundreds of feet in the air via the tree tops.

Denise Cares wrote:What about potential fire danger from so much dead debris in long piles? If wind blows uphill from the pile it could drive the flames toward homestead structures. I think I'd consider a live hedgerow instead.

It's a great idea. However, those of us who are in fire prone areas could do little bits at a time. It sounds so good for wildlife habitat.

This is a great idea for some areas. In the USA Pacific Northwest, living plants soon infiltrate dead tree and branch piles like that. Sometimes those plants are the Himalayan blackberries which can be aggressive although they certainly make a sharp-thorn living fence with tasty blackberries. Have to keep slashing them back, though, or they'll take over the planet. Quail and cottontail rabbits love living within those thorny blackberry jungles.