hey!!! .. welcome to GW .. especially the conifer forum ...

i will leave the science of such to those so trained...

but lets start with 2 things that come to mind ...

first.. very generally speaking.. trees can be twice as big underground as above.. BUT IN A DIFFERENT SHAPE ... the roots are more of a pancake.. relatively speaking.. see pix below of a maple as an example ... you probably saw such when the local trees blew over ...;. it is genetic ...

and your suggestion.. that deep watering will change that genetics.. is.. well.. wishful thinking ....

secondly... i would simply ask.. what is standing.. in your greater area ... perhaps we can start, by defining.. what is not affected.. in your area .... these guys are pretty sharp in ID'ing such... with a halfway decent picture ...

all that said... mini's and dwarf's ought to be better able to cope with wind ... especially if you have a prevailing wind.. and can landscape for such ...

lets see what the others have to say

ken

ps: which is a very long way of suggesting.. there is no magical tap root ....

{{gwi:234645}}

{{gwi:208954}}

What's your zone and soil type? Are you at a low or high elevation? What other trees do you see around? Does water stay on the surface for a week or more ever? Is there a major city near you that you can tell us?

Dax

This post was edited by gardener365 on Mon, May 13, 13 at 20:11

Thank you Ken for the welcome! The pines in our area seem to still be up along with a number of the spruces, but the spruces were the ones we saw down. I was recently talking with someone who said that his spruces were still standing, but his tall pines broke off rather than being uprooted. He indicated it was all due to watering, hence the reason I started questioning not using spruces as a wind break. Genetics makes sense though, so I better go with what I see still standing.

Dax, thank you for your help. We are in zone 5, and our elevation is 4,300. I'm not very good yet with tree names; however, some of our neighbors have planted fruit trees that are doing well and aspens. There are some Austrian pines, but I am hoping to plant something a little shorter.

As far as standing water...we get standing water in the lowest part of our yard from the run off of our neighbors as well as our own. We just installed a sump pump along with some grass to alleviate the problem. Prior to this we would get a little "pond" in our yard for a few days to a week depending on how wet the spring was. The trees though are going to be planted on a ridge above the low part of our yard (about 6-7 feet up--attached is a picture). The problem is we get a nice wind tunnel that seems to affect certain homes in our neighborhood and not others. This is the second year in a row part of our shingles have blown off.

We live right between Ogden, UT and Salt Lake City, UT, and we are right next to the Great Salt Lake. We live in an area that used to be farmed--not sure what kind of crops, but the soil seems to be mostly a mix of clay/sand. We've mixed in a lot of top soil and utelite though.

Thank you again for all of your help!

Megan

Hi Megan,

First thought is Thuja occidentalis of which there are many cultivars so height could be where you want it. I think Thuja occidentalis 'Nigra' may be the one for you. You're limited because of the potential for a week of standing water. I think Thuja occidentalis is the way to go.

Here's a very reasonable grower (link below). Have a look at all their Thuja occidentalis cultivars.

Best regards,

Dax

Here is a link that might be useful: Evergreen Nursery

Somehow I dismissed your point about the elevated bed- I was thinking about something else, evidently.

You might look at Pinus heldreichii aka Pinus leucodermis for a smaller than Austrian pine, pine. Sure everything will continue to grow but it's not a fast-grower.

Dax

I agree with Dax's suggestions mostly because for pines, those varietals are also the most resistant to pine wilt. I don't know how prevelant wilt is in Utah but throughout the midwest it has been devatating this last few years.

mark

Looks like an interesting project!

Based on the picture, my guess is the soil moisture along the ridge will be much less compared to the part that's 6-7 feet below. One question is where is the water coming from, and why is it accumulating? As I understand, the rainiest month in Utah is April, with less than 2.5 inches and there is low humidity. Does the area receive supplemental water? And can you easily bring supplemental water to the ridge?

For trees, and further to the suggestions others have provided, I am thinking about rocky mountain juniper, and pines such as pinyon and possibly limber. The pinyon grow slower than most, and the limber are flexible and not prone to breaking.

Fabulous! Thank you everyone for your suggestions and thoughts! I am really excited to get my trees planted as it will hopefully bloke some of the noise we get from the fair grounds as well as the wind.

Sluice, we live in an area that has a high water table to begin with, but then we get the run off from both of our neighbors sprinklers. When we moved in both of them had built up their yards so the middle of ours was the lowest point. Instead of having a water run off battle we decided to just put in a sump. I'm hoping it was the right decision. We set up drip irrigation for the trees at the top of the ridge so that should hopefully get them the water they need to get established and well taken care of.

Thanks again everyone...it's fun to be a part of a forum with such knowledgeable people.

Megan