Which trees to plant for shelter?

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LynH

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I have my horses at home and have absolutely no natural shelter in two fields and the woods next to the other two fields are on the wrong side so provide no shade from the sun.

For now I am using mobile field shelters but long term I would like to plant some trees which would hopefully provide natural shade in the future. Which are the best trees to plant that are non poisonous but fast growing? Obviously they will take years to grow but this is our forever home so I'm ok with this being a long term project. Any suggestions very welcome :0)
 
Ash are pretty fast growing, and you could use something like elder in the meantime that will form a pretty substantial shrub/small tree in a fairly short space of time. All trees will lose their leaves in winter though, so planting something like holly will provide a dense shelter when everything else is bare. :)
 
Thankyou. Good point about the holly for winter. I had just been thinking about shade in the summer but holly would give a bit of a windbreak as the wind does whip across the neighbouring fields.
Is it better to spread the trees out or create a cluster so they have a small wooded area or doesn't it matter as long as there is shade plus some windbreak?
 
If you want shelter and shade you need a native hedgerow with trees in it - so a mix of, say, field maple, hazel, hawthorn, ash. Get decent sized plants and they will get away quickly. You could leave some to grow into trees or put in larger plants from the off for those. Holly is very slow growing and large plants are fairly expensive. A good thick hedge will provide plenty of shelter with or without leaves.
 
Find yourself a good local commercial forestry nursery and tell them what you want. The choice of species will depend on your soil type, drainage, etc. Once established, trees grow surprisingly quickly. I am a great believer in planting too many trees! If they are in the wrong place, it's easy enough to rectify the problem with a chain saw but if you haven't got one where you'd like one, it will take a few years to fix that! There's nothing to beat the heat from a wood fire and even nicer when you remind yourself that you planted it and it cost you next to nothing! Far healthier for horses than a stable too.
 
Thank you all for your advice. I'm quite excited about getting it started, it will be so nice to have some natural shelter eventually esp. as I'm hoping the horses will live out 24/7.
 
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