[Cob] Windbreak plantings

[Moore, Randy - FW]

Another consideration (one that you may already have made, given the progressive nature of your undertaking) that hasn't gottetn a lot of play in the suggestions made so far is the provenance of your plantings.  Whatever you end up using, it'd be wise from an ethical and practical standpoint to make sure that it's not invasive.  Many species of ivy (English ivy being the standard bearer) and holly are horribly invasive and destructive and should never be planted anywhere on purpose.  Your MO chapter of the native plant society will probably have some good suggestions for things to plant that will be suited to breaking wind (no pun intended, although I do find that awfully funny in a fourth grade kind of a way).
 
Go with natives!
 
cheers,
randy
 
  
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:59:42 -0600
From: Quinn <cowgrrlquinn at gmail.com>
Subject: [Cob] windbreak
To: evacindustry at gmail.com, coblist at deatech.com
Message-ID: <E498B7B0-F21C-4A66-9DAA-DDE7905FC0A8 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=US-ASCII;       delsp=yes;      format=flowed

Ziggy,

Two things to consider when planting next to a wall are the roots and 
the crown of whatever you're planting.  The crown, of course, is the 
diameter of whatever it is and how large it will become which might 
affect your walls with rubbing (wind) or broken branches (really big 
wind, or ice).

The other consideration is roots.  Do not plant anything which will, 
in time, have large enough roots (some have mentioned chestnut trees, 
etc) that they will push up and crack your walls.  People make this 
mistake all the time.

It's amazing how far some things have to be planted from a structure 
to prevent damage down the road and amazing how short-sighted many 
people are when choosing plants/ planting.

Another things to consider is do you want to replant it every year or 
just once?  Some things might do well but need to be continually 
replanted.

There are some species of poplar (can't think of the name right now) 
which grow in a very narrow diameter, and very quickly straight up, 
and are extremely popular as windbreaks.  They do grow in MO. (I'm in 
AR)  Still~ they are trees with tree-roots.  Don't plant them too close.

Good luck.

Quinn

No Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation will leave you emptier of bad 
thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.  ~ M.F.K. Fisher







------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 09:48:55 +1100
From: "Peters Family \(AKA sar, bridge, dylan,  chris\)"
        <bollygum211 at bigpond.com>
Subject: Re: [Cob] Good windbreak plants for close planting to cob
        wall?
To: <coblist at deatech.com>
Cc: evacindustry at gmail.com
Message-ID: <002101cabb23$b6150200$6401a8c0 at FRED>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Brian,
What about Boston Ivy, (Parthenocissus tricuspidata ??) It adheres with suction caps on it's roots so it's not that destructive on masonry walls, deciduous for winter sun, native to US ? and the leaves are held vertical so water drops down to the ground. Being in the grape family there could be medical uses but I don't know of any.. Just a suggestion  It can be a bit weedy here in parts of Oz but no idea about where you are..
Seems a shame to cover a cob wall though.
cp



On Tue, 3/2/10, Brian Liloia <evacindustry at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Brian Liloia <evacindustry at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Cob] Good windbreak plants for close planting to cob wall?
> To: coblist at deatech.com
> Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 2:27 PM
>
> I live in northeast Missouri in a completely cob house, and the west and
> north walls are quite exposed to the wind. Unfortunately, I cannot plant any
> ol' types of trees or shrubs at any ol' distance from the house, since I
> live at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and I can only really work within the
> confines of my plot of land, which is quite small.
>
> I hoped to get some insight into planting shrubs nearly butt up against the
> north and west walls of the house. Has anyone planted shrubs right up
> against their own cob walls? What types of shrubs would you recommend?
> Obviously, they should be (very) shade-tolerant, and it would be nice it
> they had some medicinal or edible qualities, but it's more important that
> they actually serve as a formidable windbreak.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> - ziggy (my house: http://small-scale.net/yearofmud)
>


------------------------------