sunflowers
 

I am having a problem with my neighbors shining the deer in my 10 acre farm field until they become nocturnal. To try and fix this problem, I am going to plant the edge of the road with pines. However, these will take many years to grow big and thick. So, I am planning on planting sunflowers on the inside of these. I need to make about a 15 foot wide strip that is about a quarter mile long. Does anyone have any ideas about how much sunflowers cost? Or does anyone have any other ideas about what else I can plant to create a natural fence?

Thanks for the help.

Brandon

RE: sunflowers
 

Sunflowers look great whent they are green and lush - but are horribly thin once they die back. Corn is a better fall/winter screening option than sunflowers.

My sunflowers (in this picture) come from the Hardware Store - Bulk Birdseed Bin @ $.89/lb. We prepare the soil and hand broadcast the edges when planting corn in the Spring.

These pictures are of the same strip of sunflowers - different times of the year.





The corn is a much better screen - for a longer period of time. Sunflowers are good for 1-1-1/2 months tops in my area.

FH

RE: sunflowers
 

Switchgrass might be a temporaryoption. I would put a row or two of red cedars, tightly spaced, either behind or in front of the pines. It will take 3 or so years of growth for the trees to make a blind, if you have good dirt. Putting a hog wire fence up and planting honeysuckle on it would be a fast solution, and the deer love the honeysuckle. The honeysuckle vines have atendency to pull a fence down over time is the only problem.

RE: sunflowers
 

There has been some good options so far. Nice picture farm hunter, definitely worth a thousand words. I agree field corn would be the best option, it can endure the weather better than most, especially after frost. Maybe their is a reason you have ruled it out already. I would think you could get a local farmer to put it in, and get him to wait till winter to harvest. That way it would not cost you anything, but it is going to take more than a 15 ft strip, more like 30 to 50 ft. Some of the grasses are another good option. I have had fairly good luck with pearl millet. Last year the price of the seed was .78 cent a pound. It gets fairly tall 3 to 7 ft and grows fast in just about any soil. It would stand for a while after frost. Sunflowers would be my last option, for the same reasons farm hunter mentioned, and they are prone to wind damage.