Adaptations for wind

I wonder what the adaptation action for wind would be...like for rain it would be harvesting of water or diversion and proper drainage I guess. Drought
..conserve water...you know what I'm getting at?

I live in a windy area and shelter is everything. Both houses and people do better with shelter from the wind.

You can tell the original houses as they are all tucked into the rock forms - like this former house near me:

Skye house tucked into the hillside

I have planted my land with rows of shelterbelts. As it turns out I have needed to add more in - shelter here is more important to growing plants than sunshine (since we get so little of the latter!)

I'd love to hear other people's tricks for making the most of windy areas!

Windbreak or planting a hedge against the wind.

https://permies.com/t/hedgerow-benefits

Nancy Reading wrote:I live in a windy area and shelter is everything. Both houses and people do better with shelter from the wind.

ABSOLUTELY prioritize shelter, and keep track of what direction the wind is coming from.

1. Earthworks and careful building planning when you can. Solid dirt & rock diverts better than anything else.

2. Sturdy slower-to-medium-growing evergreens are the best windbreak in my opinion.  It'll take longer to get established so it's not a quick-fix, but they'll continue to provide a windbreak even if they die and become a dead husk. Fast-growing trees tend to be brittle, and aren't the best choice against truly STRONG winds.  I prefer evergreens like pine and spruce because as they get larger, their TOP is their smallest & bendiest part. Their radius-for-causing-severe-damage is a lot smaller than a deciduous tree.

3. If you're going with hardwoods to shield your house, MAKE SURE they're far enough away that they can't get blown over in 10 years and crush your house. Deciduous trees get TOP heavy, and can wreck your shit by dropping huge limbs from a great height to get flung by the wind.  

4. Stack your windbreaks, if you can. Have some hardwoods further out, to take the first smash & slow down the wind.  Another barrier of scattered evergreens to continue to slow it down as it approaches your home/garden. Tall hedges. Fences.

5. For gardens; tuck your more fragile herbaceous plants closer behind a windbreak, so the seasonal wind storms don't snap them in half or strip all their leaves off. If you can put all your most-fragile stuff in the dead-air spot right behind your house where the worst winds won't hit, that's ideal.

6. If all you've got is a fenceline to work with, go for 'reduce damage' rather than 'prevent'. I've had solid wood fence posts snap at the base, because the super-strong fall winds caught them broadside. 80+MPH gusts have some OOMPH behind them.  However, the much more delicate-looking lattice fence with cloth mesh over it was just fine. The porosity of the mesh allowed some wind through, so it wasn't taking the full brunt - but still reduced the force of wind on the garden behind it.

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If you've got the tech savvy to turn wind into power, and can afford the big power banks (batteries to store it), windmills and wind turbines can capture quite a bit from windy areas & storms.

It helps to know the prevailing winds at your location. But even more importantly, you need to know which corner the most damaging winds tend to come from. Here, those are 180 degrees apart. Plan your site to make the most beneficial use of the "good" winds that are most common, and have mitigation or protection measures for the storm winds.

As Toko points out, permeability is a great attribute for a windbreak. It's a lot easier to diffuse wind and decrease its energy with a wider, porous shelterbelt than it is to deflect it with a hard structure...it just goes up and over, becoming far more turbulent on the downwind, supposedly "protected" side.

All the leaves on a tree reminds me of thousands of little sails on a ship.

Rad Anthony wrote:All the leaves on a tree reminds me of thousands of little sails on a ship.

Oh yes! I've had more than one tree sail away....mostly evergreens - the holly and holm oak grow quickly, but their roots don't seem to hold on as well. Also hawthornes: even thought they're not evergreen, the branches are fine and dense and also catch the wind well. The other thing I get is the leaves blowing off the evergreens. Many look rather tatty by the end of the winter.
Actually, except for round the house, I'm now thinking that deciduous trees are better for me for windbreaks. They lose their leaves in winter, but I mostly need the shelter for growing things and not much happens till blossom break - so I get sunshine in winter and shelter in summer, which seems like a good compromise!

First thought - if you plan a tiled roof - each tile may need to be wired down to the roof laths.    Even though ours was, we still lost a couple of the ridge cap tiles before the shelter belt established.  Which leads to:-
https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au  where you will find all sorts of helpful downloadable resources.  Oz-centric to be sure, but the general principles apply.  
Not just wind mitigation, but shelter/safe passage for wildlife, shelter for stock, protection for pasture from drying winds.  But echoing the comments above - far enough away from the house to avoid falling branches (Eucalypts tend to self-prune when stressed) usual suspects are species of pine.

Wind strengthens plants to make them less susceptible to breakage.  It is also fun to walk in high winds.

Mark Scofield

My 1 acre property has a magnificent view overlooking a valley and stretching to the hills in the distance. Absolutely beautiful! But I stuggle to get hedges to establish as it's so hot in summer, the wind is dessicating, and in winter it roars in from the other side and nothing grows in between!. I've currently got a row of citrus I am hoping will eventually bush out to form a wind break to the north and I've got prickly pears to the south but it's slow going. As I only have an acre, I would prefer most of my trees to be food trees. Is there something fast growing that loves heat and dry conditions I can be planting as a nurse plant/temporary barrier?

Tell that to my poor fruit and nut trees that I put in over 6 years ago as good quality plants. 🙄 It's funny, the heading has done just fine, but the fruit and nut trees that I didn't plant in a solid clump, oooo they are a sorry bunch. Alot died right back, the cobs are coming back from the ground, and finally what I think is the almond seems to be making a real come back. But the walnuts have all but totally perished. As have the nectarines.
You should see my acer, poor thing looks like it's a bonzi. It looks cute with it's tufts that look highly manicured, which are infact just a product of the wind, and what I can only assume is it's leafage huddling together for protection. My acer is about 15 years old. I brought it with me 6 years ago when I moved. It transplanted well, but the poor thing is probably half the size it was now. I definitely would not say that it has been strengthened by the wind. I want to hug the poor little thing and tell it that everything will be alright. But I don't, because I don't trust that it will for beautiful self bonzi.

Judy - I feel for you! I've been planting for 18 years now and ignore a bit what the books say. Plant small trees - cheaper and they can get sturdy roots down as they grow so don't outgrow their foundations. I plant in spring rather than autumn. We get wet windy winters so the roots wouldn't grow well anyhow and it saves the trees rocking around a bit before they get established. Either plant your windbreaks first and then your cropping trees once they have some shelter, or plant many more than you need as nurse trees to support the ones you actually hope to crop.

Sarah Joubert wrote:My 1 acre property has a magnificent view overlooking a valley and stretching to the hills in the distance. Absolutely beautiful! But I stuggle to get hedges to establish as it's so hot in summer, the wind is dessicating, and in winter it roars in from the other side and nothing grows in between!. I've currently got a row of citrus I am hoping will eventually bush out to form a wind break to the north and I've got prickly pears to the south but it's slow going. As I only have an acre, I would prefer most of my trees to be food trees. Is there something fast growing that loves heat and dry conditions I can be planting as a nurse plant/temporary barrier?

Moringa? If you get em started just before the rains start, they will grow like crazy and you can do a lot with moringa.

I just was thinking maybe building v shape shelters out of pallets to protect the tree as she gets established?