Neighbours be gone!

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #1 21-06-2005, 04:30 PM

My house has been subject to ever increasing traffic over the years, especially since they put a new road through. Now they are building a roundabout right next to my house. This will be wonderful for astronomy with extra lights and cars... NOT!!! So in desperation I've decided to plant a hedge to try and keep the lights out, without keeping the stars out. During my travels trying to find out hedge information I found this funny site. http://www.hellohello.com.au/begone.html ( I hope I can post links?) This bloke reckons his hedge is so thick he can run around inside it naked with complete privacy!

Anyway I'm gunna give a hedge a try, using slightly different trees but the same techniques. Just high enough so the traffic be gone but not so high that the stars be gone! The lights will still light up the sky though. Not much I can do about that, except move.

Maybe 1Ponders can give me a few planting tips, hint hint.

Striker (Tony) · #2 21-06-2005, 04:34 PM

The key is prunning..heaps of it.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #3 21-06-2005, 04:37 PM

They do make a good hedge that's for sure. Just make sure you keep it trimmed. They can grow more that 25 meters high in their native environment. Mind you they respond well to pruning with a chainsaw.

How high and how thick to you want to go Kevin? Do you want just a hedge or would you like it to provide fruit as well

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #4 21-06-2005, 04:46 PM

Mmm, so thick that light doesn't come through but I'm not too fussy on height, probably 4-6 metres? At that height though I don't think I'll be ablt to prune the top, just the sides.

I've already started by using scrub cherry type lilly pillies but I may have planted them too far apart. Mine are about 2 metres apart but I read that this bloke uses 1 metre. I guess I could always plant another in the middle of each.

I'm thinking though that I should have used something that doesn't bare fruit, if there is such a thing? Otherwise the fruit may be very messy when they bear? Someone did tell me though that pruning will help keep the fruit down.

ving (David) · #5 21-06-2005, 04:55 PM

hmm... sitting on the corner with a shotgun might work too...
I have the black thumb of death rather than a green thumb. how big are they currently? what are the water restrictions like in your area?
if you prune the flower pruducing ends it'll keep fruit away.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #6 21-06-2005, 05:04 PM

Almost any of the lilly pillies will do. If you hadn't started I was going to suggest Golden Penda. Definately plant one between the existing one. The additional competition will help keep them from growing too big. Even the scrub cherry (Syzygium australe) is a huge tree in the bush. As I said before if they get too high, chainsaw them back to a managable height. Just cut the central trunks out and leave any upward growing branches. They'll then become new trunks that you can cut back later on. If you water them regularly (Lilly pillies like good water to get them growing, but will do without when they mature) and lightly fertilize them with a low phosphorus fertilizer, they'll reach 6 meters in 2-4 years, NP

Golden Penda though only grow to about 6-10 meters and you can really hack into them. The more you cut them back the thicker they get. Syzygium will too but not to the extent of Pendas and not as fast. To keep either of them healthy though keep your hedge to around 1 - 1.5 meters thick at the base and sloping in towards the top at the sides. This is to make sure all the hedge gets good light from top to bottom. Otherwise you might start to find it getting bare patches as it gets older.

Good luck with them. Oh and make sure you mulch them deeply (straw mulch at least 75 mm thick) out to about half a meter from the trunks, but keep the mulch from coming in contact with the trunk. They will grow quicker than unmulched.

Lilly pilly fruit isn't too bad besides the native pidgeons and possums will love them. The golden penda doesn't produce fleshy fruit. Or you can do a light hedge after flowering to remove the old flowers and developing fruit

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #7 21-06-2005, 05:07 PM

Just planted a couple so far as a test Ving, the big effort comes when I know for sure what I'm going to plant. Aslo in testing are Viburnum Odoratisimum which I've had a hard time gathering information about but look promising.

My property is about 130 metres long but I'll only be doing about half that since the lower half is already heavily "treed".

Water restrictions are level 2, will go to 3 later in the year probably. Shouldn't be a problem with drippers?

Another good tree might be a Xanthostemon Chrysanthus "Trail Blazer". 4x3m going by the label but not sure if it has a leafless trunk at the bottom. That's the advantage of lilly pillies - leaves all the way down to the ground.

The other thing is my health is not always good. I may go through periods where the trees will be neglected. Watering not a problem since I just have to turn on the drippers but not sure if I can keep up the pruning?

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #8 21-06-2005, 05:16 PM

Okay Paul, I posted before I saw your reply.

Can I plant the golden pendas between the lilly pillies or is it best to keep the hedge going with one species? I like the Golden Penda, beautiful flowers when in bloom.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #9 21-06-2005, 06:26 PM

You can plant both but eventually one or the other will dominate. Which one depends on a number of differenct factors, most likely the lilly pilly. But if they both get established well enough and you keep them evenly hedged you may be able to get away with both. How long have the lilly pillys been in for?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #10 21-06-2005, 06:30 PM

Just read your previous post

Yes "Trail Blazer" would be a good choice. And they will have branches right to the ground. If the lilly pillys were a good distance apart you could make up the gap with Pendas.

You may find you have problems with the Viburnum. There's some sort of disease going through different species of viburnum around this area at the moment. Its can also be a very twiggy scratchy plant when you have to pick up after pruning.

Stick with the natives. The local fauna will thank you for it

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #11 21-06-2005, 06:33 PM

Lilly pillys have only been in for a couple of weeks and are dormant at present.

Striker (Tony) · #12 21-06-2005, 06:35 PM

Keep those lilly pilly's well watered...they can virtualy live in a bucket of a water....

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #13 21-06-2005, 06:50 PM

So can the Pendas from what I've read. They reckon they grow near river beds and have their roots in the water. I have sandy soil at the back so I will need to mulch well as Paul said.

I've found It's been really hard learning about plants. A lot of info I come across is contradictory with regard to tree size, but as a mate said it probably depends a lot on soil type, climate and care etc. The labels are a nightmare! For the same plant one label says 10 metres and another says 4.5! Being a plant newbie I find this very confusing!

So anyway, at this stage looks like I'll make half the main hedge Trail Blazer Pendas and keep the Lilly Pillys for the other half.

Also the really annoying thing about it all is me! I'm so indecisive!

Starkler (Geoff) · #14 21-06-2005, 07:43 PM

My backyard is fairly bare and I just need to block out one streetlight thats directly behind the house at the rear of my property . Problem is one big tall bushy bush against the middle of the back fence is going to look a bit silly

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #15 21-06-2005, 08:04 PM

Geoff,

What happened to the lift-up screen you were going to make for the back fence?

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #16 21-06-2005, 09:29 PM

One Lilly Pilly would be perfect.

h0ughy (David) · #17 22-06-2005, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

My house has been subject to ever increasing traffic over the years, especially since they put a new road through. Now they are building a roundabout right next to my house. This will be wonderful for astronomy with extra lights and cars... NOT!!! So in desperation I've decided to plant a hedge to try and keep the lights out, without keeping the stars out. During my travels trying to find out hedge information I found this funny site. http://www.hellohello.com.au/begone.html ( I hope I can post links?) This bloke reckons his hedge is so thick he can run around inside it naked with complete privacy!

Anyway I'm gunna give a hedge a try, using slightly different trees but the same techniques. Just high enough so the traffic be gone but not so high that the stars be gone! The lights will still light up the sky though. Not much I can do about that, except move.

Maybe 1Ponders can give me a few planting tips, hint hint.

cometcatcher,

write a letter to the council spruking about the effects of the lighting design at the roundabout and request the council to adhere to AS4282-1997 (outdoor lighting) and Austroads part 12 (Roadway lighting) and have the lighting designed to not intrude onto your property, by having energy efficient lighting design undertaken (save them some long term operating costs) complete with cutoffs, directional lighting. The aboreal screen would only be good for direct light and headlights, the diffuse light surrounding the lighting source can't be helped much but it can be certainly reduced considerably and directed to where it is needed. also requesting that a suitable sodium lamp be used you can use a LPR filter that may help in the long term. Failing that make a slingshot and buy some sinkers

cometcatcher (Kevin) · #18 22-06-2005, 11:48 PM

Thanks Houghy.

Planted some Trail Blazer Pendas today for half the hedge, just need a few lilly pillys now to fill in the other half, then it's jungle time! The snakes will love it! Oops.