Olga Tereshenkova

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Olga Tereshenkova wrote:Do you mean 20-30 species in a single row?

Oh yes! Mixed species windbreaks more closely mimic natural ecosystems, and they are more resistant to disease, pests,  fire, predators, etc. Mixed species provide better forage and shelter for beasts and bugs.

I think what you've suggested is how permaculture sees that. However, we have dozens of kilometers of windbreaks lines; there is no way we could possibly experiment with multiple species. We would need quite a few people to plant, monitoring, and research which is not feasible in our case. Perhaps what you suggest could work for a smaller area. Don't you think that the larger the area is, the simpler the system should be?

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
Rather than  planting one species of low shrub, I'd recommend 20 or 30 species. Some will fail, but some might really thrive.

I'm confused.
Do you mean 20-30 species in a single row? Based on research I've done one row should consist of a single species.
We have multiple lines (each consisting of 3 rows) of windbreaks. We have planned to use multiple species in each line (however, keeping to only a single specie per row).

Hello everyone!

The basic idea is that we want to make the windbreak shelterbelt for fields and pastures.
3 rows, 5-15-25 meters height.

We have some problems for 5 meter row of decidiuos shrubs.
Requirements:
* 4 USDA zone
* soils - heavy, moist and wet, acid
* weed potential - no.

I found these plants in https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx and some other sourses:
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Amelanchier alnifolia
Salix purpurea lambertiana
Salix viminalis
Salix acutifolia
Corylus avellana
Amelanchier canadensis
Crataegus laevigata
Viburnum lantana
Viburnum opulus
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However my partner tells me that only Corylus avellana and Salix purpurea lambertiana are suitable.
The rest of the plants from this list may be ice cream cone formed in their shapes, so that they won't look as proper shrubs and will have a naked trunk at the bottom part. Obviously this is inefficient for setting up as a shelterbelt. We need to have a crown (i.e. leaves) very close to the ground level.

So the point is that we don't know for sure how they will behave when planted close to each other (ca 1 meter in between plants). Maybe they will be true shrubs like we want, maybe they won't.
The ultimate goal is to find out what should be done to get from a minor-size tree a distinct shrub with massive crown. We don't know how these shrubs will grow when they are tightly planted and whether any kind of special maintanance would be required.
It's important to figure this out as we are working on a design of nearly 300 hectares of fields and pastures and it would be a devastatign mistake to make for such a big area.
Any feedback would be highly appreciate!