Q&A WITH A CITRUS GROWER ON WIND BREAK SUCCESSES
When it comes to curbing wind damage in young orchards, growers have several options – from installing artificial windbreaks to planting permanent and less permanent natural windbreaks. We spoke to a grower about his experience with maize plants as a temporary windbreak structure.
Maize plants stop the wind in its tracks
Wind causes havoc and often has a long-term impact on the production and profitability of a newly planted orchard. We asked a grower from the Piketberg area to share some insights regarding maize plants established next to his Nadorcott LS trees. The Nadorcott LS trees were planted in October 2021 and the maize was sown in December 2021 along every row.
Q: How far was the maize spaced from one another?
A: The maize was sown by hand, and we did not have a specific spacing in mind but looking back we could have sown less.
Q: Did the maize compete with the trees’ water and nutrients?
A: We sowed the maize approximately 60cm from the trees and moved one of the dripper lines to the maize row and even with this spacing I do believe we traded a bit of root development in for wind protection. The maize did compete with the water and nutrients of the citrus tree.
Q: Did the maize effectively reduce the effects of the frequent winds on your young citrus trees?
A: Yes, the maize proved to be successful in protecting the citrus trees and we are happy with the canopy size achieved from October 2021 up to now.
Q: Will you replant maize or was it only for the first year with planting?
A: We have only planted the maize for the initial wind protection of the newly planted trees. However, we will just leave the maize plants and see how long they will be able to give us protection before they fall to the ground and start to break down. We will also move our second drip line back onto the ridge for the citrus trees this year.
Q: Would you say that the sowing and tree planting timing was correct in terms of the wind protection you attained during the windiest of months?
A: In retrospect, we sowed the maize too late. I will recommend sowing the maize before you plant the trees, for example September month in our case, as our windiest months are normally from December to February. Ideally, the maize needs to be taller than the citrus trees by December to give optimum protection against the wind.
Temporary windbreaks in the first year of a tree, as in the case above, can be advantageous if managed properly. Maize will provide a very quick and effective (depending on sowing rate) windbreak for young citrus trees, but this is not a permanent solution. Once the citrus tree reaches a height of 1.6m the maize will have little to no effect as a windbreak.
Permanent natural windbreaks such as Casuarinas (more commonly known as beef wood), Chinese Poplar and Bamboo offer the same windbreaking advantages, but their effectiveness vary according to their height and spacing.
For more on the impact of wind and how to use windbreaks read the full article in ROOTED magazine #1.