Q. I have used Italian cypress in moderate climates with
very good success but now I will be moving to the desert in Pahrump on one acre
and want to put in about 30-50 of these for windbreak. Is there anything
special I need to consider planting these in a desert climate?
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| Italian cypress if planted close enough can provide good wind protection…but at a cost. Living wind barriers use water. Balance the benefit you get from a living windbreak vs. its cost. Windbreaks are effective up to about five times their height. Place windbreaks close to where you need them. Too far away is a waste of time, water and money. |
A. Pahrump gets colder than Las Vegas and will dip down
to 10°F. They have trouble growing plants which have less cold tolerance than
Las Vegas. The relative humidity can drop to as low as about 10% at times but
regularly is between 20 to 30%. Much like the rest of lower elevations southern
Nevada, some light intensities can be about 20% higher than in other parts of
the United States.
to 10°F. They have trouble growing plants which have less cold tolerance than
Las Vegas. The relative humidity can drop to as low as about 10% at times but
regularly is between 20 to 30%. Much like the rest of lower elevations southern
Nevada, some light intensities can be about 20% higher than in other parts of
the United States.
Italian Cypress will work but I also am going to attach a
document I wrote on windbreaks for southern Nevada. People in Pahrump love to
plant these windbreaks along the edge of their properties but, in my opinion,
if windbreaks are not planted in the right locations and the correct distances
from the areas to be protected, you are just wasting your money and water. They
make a nice wall and perhaps a visual barrier and that’s it. I hope you are
young man because by the time they get large enough to be of any value as a
windbreak at those distances it will be many years.
Watering them on drip irrigation will work. Be sure your
size your drip irrigation mainline, sub lines and laterals large enough to
handle the irrigation you will expect in the next 20 years. Adding emitters to
existing lines to deliver more water as plants get larger will not be a
problem. But if you under size your irrigation water delivery lines by not
planning for the future now and they are too small to accommodate the increased
water use as these plants get larger, then you will be redoing it in a few
years.
Drip irrigation requires maintenance. This includes flushing
lines on a regular basis and using appropriate filtration or you will have
nothing but problems. You can inject fertilizer into drip lines. Expect about
12 inches of growth each year. Windbreaks modify the wind to a distance equal
to about five times their height.
Pahrump was a major southern Nevada farming community in the past and has good
soils in many locations. Be sure to amend your soil surrounding these plants at
the time of planting. I usually recommend about a 50-50 addition of soil
amendment to raw desert soil at the time of planting.
Our desert soils are extremely low in organic material.
They will also perform better and have fewer problems if you can surround them
with several inches of wood mulch. Keep the mulch away from the trunks about 12
inches for the first five years.
They will also perform better and have fewer problems if you can surround them
with several inches of wood mulch. Keep the mulch away from the trunks about 12
inches for the first five years.
Rabbits do not like Italian Cypress but if they are
hungry enough and the population explodes due to recent fires, they will be
damaged or destroyed by rabbits.
I want to gently remind you that we do live in the
desert. And even though there may be only the cost of pumping the water in your
mind there are other “costs” as well. I like to call these social and
environmental costs. Pahrump’s water basin is already overdrawn (more water is
used than is replenished to the aquifer) and we need to consider this when we
are designing our landscapes and gardens. We need to find a fine balance
between our quality of life and respect for where we live.