Vegetated wind breaks (sometimes called living snow fence) have been used for many years in areas with large expanses of open fields for many purposes including:
- Protect crops from damaging winds. There is an average of a 10-20% higher yield on crops protected by a wind break as opposed to those exposed to the elements.
- Protect Livestock from harm from damaging effects of cold winds as well as wind blown material.
- Protect structures from snow drifts and help save energy by blocking cold winter winds.
- Reduce snow removal by preventing snow drifts on roadways.
- Prevent flooding by preventing wind blown sediment and debris from building up in ditches by preventing erosion.
- Prevent driver visibility issues on roadways
Additional benefits of vegetated wind breaks
The benefits of a wind break are well established and there is a long history of their use in agriculture, homesteads, and highway maintenance. A more recent development has been implementing geotextile to improve the success of plantings that are installed in a wind break. Cherokee manufacturing supplies ground cover fabrics made from slit-film polypropylene yarns woven into a stable UV resilient network for this application. Benefits of using geotextile to protect wind break plantings include:
- Retain soil moisture and eliminate the need for irrigation in all but the driest conditions.
- Prevent pest weed competition and eliminate the need of chemical herbicide treatment.
- Increase seedling survival rate from an average well below 50% to an average of 90%.
- Save money over mechanical or chemical pest control, irrigation, and replacing dead seedlings.
Cherokee ground cover fabric comes in a variety of sizes and strengths. Please contact your sales representative for additional information on our fabrics or vegetated wind breaks.