Living Fence?

[dottysfarm]

Hi all, thanks for the responses. Sorry it took me so ling to check this. I have the article from Mother Earth News. That is what inspired me to post to see if anyone has tried this. I see quite a few negative posts of course and was expecting them. I think my chickens would just fly over too and I do not want to clip their wings. My question for those against this idea is have you ever done this living fence thing? Did you have predators and chickens penetrate it? I would like to know of course since I want to do it. If you have had a tight living fence that was properly done and with the right plants and still had penetration, I want to know pls. If you haven't tried it then I guess your thoughts, as are mine, are just hypothesis.

I have not searched too hard for the Osage orange. I read about it in the mother earth article. Apparently there is annolder plant that was used and George Washington even wanted all farmers to have living fences... Apparently they work for somebody... I have considered a mix of some different plants. I would like to try the Rosa Rugosa. I also have a Sandhill Preservation catalog and they have these two plants that I think would also work. They are called Purple Devil and Devil's Claw. They both have very long spines. The Purple Devil plant has foot long thorns. My guess it that if one were to plant these super close together and cause them to grow together that it would creat an impenetrable barrier... But, only a five foot tall barrier.

How tall do the Osage Orange grow? Will they grow in Wi? Where do I purchase them? I have LOTS of tree, plant, and seed Catalina but not one with this Osage orange.

Any more thoughts?

 

[Hoss1975]

An old timer once told me you could set a rock on top of a osage orange post and the rock would rot before the post.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Living fences most suitable for medium sized grazers like cattle, sheep and horses. Goats and hogs will destroy it in short order. For chickens it can be a good source of cover. If the chickens are wiley enough it can also serve as a refuge from from ground predators.

Try following link as possible osage orange source. http://hedgeapple.com/

We used to have living fence consisting of brambles (wild rasperries, locust and hawthorn trees, hedgeapples / osage oranges, eastern red cedar) with woven wire fence serving as core. Also proved excellent habitat for cottontail rabbits and bobwhite quail.

Biggest problem for the tighter living fence is that several years required for it to become established and once hole formed from plant loss neighboring plants slow establishment of hole fillers. Many of the plant species too competitive to be consitently crowded into a fence.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
still never heard of it.

The most common living fence here is ocotillo. It is indeed sturdy enough to keep predators out if planted closely enough. Cholla would probably be even better for preventing an animal from getting through, but does not grow as tall. I've also been told that it is illegal--at least for commercial landscapers to build. However, I doubt either ocotillo or cholla would survive in the OP's climate.

 

[patman75]

I have overgrown fence rows surrounding my property and they do a good job of keeping only the chickens contained. They are moslty made of silver leaf dogwood. Now these dogwoods are old and about 10 feet high and 20+ feet deep. The dogwoods do a good job of spreading on their own and the rabbits and deer dont like to eat them. They provide great berries for birds and nice flowers and in the late spring.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

ahh! bois d'arc! I've always seen them as trees, and not recently, but when I was a kid.

Here are some links to ocotillo fences:
http://www.elsaelsa.com/astrology/2009/01/05/henry-and-his-living-fences-an-interlude/
http://www.studiogblog.com/plants-natives/plants/living-ocotillo-fences-fouquieria-splendens/

 

[classicsredone]

I think raspberries might be the most cost efficient if you are going to make a living fence. Roses and citrus trees could be cloned if you have the ability, though. It really isn't that hard to clone once you get the hang of it.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Raspberries! I hadn't thought of that! Yes, plant raspberries and Osage Orange trees together, and you have a fence! The Osage Orange trees on our place here in Iowa, get to 20' high and more. Once they are grown, nothing gets through.

The paragraph below was taken from http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm

Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880's, many thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together in a line. The saplings were aggressively pruned to promote bushy growth. "Horse high, bull strong and hog tight." Those were the criteria for a good hedge made with Osage Orange. Tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push through it and woven so tightly that even a hog could not find its way through! After barbed wire made hedge fences obsolete, the trees still found use as a source of unbeatable fence posts. The wood is strong and so dense that it will neither rot nor succumb to the attacks of termites or other insects for decades. The trees also found use as an effective component of windbreaks and shelterbelts.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Quote:
While Thorny Locusts do grow into a very thick and impenetrable barrier, I would not recommend them. They spread by rhizomes, (roots) and are down right dangerous. We are fighting a major war trying to eliminate them on our farm. The thorns DO puncture tires, shoes, and body parts. A prick by a locust thorn when it is young and red, can very quickly lead to blood poisoning because of the toxins in the thorns. NOT NICE.

 

[dottysfarm]

What a bunch of awesome replies! I will def have to look up some of this stuff tomorrow. I think I am pretty sold on the Osage orange trees. The silver leaf dogwood sound nice too with the deer not liking them... I wonder if one could make a nice thick fence by planting another deterrent in from of or behind the Osage orange or Osage orange/raspberry fence. I will def be doing some more research. Thanks all for the posts!!!!