Field Shelterbelt Facts

• Field shelterbelts force the wind upwards and provide protection for up to 20 times the height of the trees.
• Field shelterbelts prevent soil drifting, hold snow on fields, protect swaths and newly seeded crops, provide food and shelter for wildlife and increase crop yields.
• Problems including competition with adjacent crops, land out of production and excess snow trapment can be eliminated by proper planning and use of recommended species and spacing.
• Upon request, a PFRA Shelterbelt Technician will visit your farm and help you plan your field shelterbelt.
• Tree rows should be planted perpendicular to prevailing winds. Plant rows north-south to stop westerly winds. Plant rows east-west to stop southerly winds.
• On most soils, tree rows should be planted 660 ft. apart. Use tree rows to divide a quarter section into 40 acre fields.
• Green ash, caragana, buffaloberry, sea buckthorn, villosa lilac and choke cherry are suitable for field shelterbelts.
• Buffaloberry, sea buckthorn, choke cherry and hawthorn can be planted alone or in combination with green ash to provide food and cover for wildlife.
• Poplar, maple Siberian elm and spruce are not recommended for planting in fields due to their competititve root systems.
• In-row spacing: ash - 6 to 8 ft.; caragana - 1 ft.; lilac, buffaloberry, hawthorn, choke cherry and sea buckthorn - 3 ft.
• Prepare the planting site in advance by summerfallowing for one season. Kill perennial weeds and grasses with glyphosate (Round-up).
• If using chemicals for weed control, apply trifluralin (Treflan, Triflurex, Rival) at two to three times field rate during the spring or fall prior to planting.
• Maintain a cultivated strip at least 3 ft. wide on each side of the tree row.
• Paraquat (Gramoxone, Sweep), Simazine (Princep, Simazine) and linuron (Lorox, Afolan F) can be used to control weeds in shelterbelts after planting.
• Avoid hitting tree and shrub sheedlings with spray drift.
• If using non-chemical methods of weed control such as plastic mulch or flax shives, follow the above site preparation recommendation and remove weeds along edge of mulch by mowing.