Vegetated Wind Breaks

Vegetated wind breaks

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.

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