Do Arborvitae and Cypress Privacy Trees Work Well in High Wind Areas f

Do Arborvitae and Cypress Privacy Trees Work Well in High Wind Areas for Windbreak?

Yes, they do! This is a very common question for Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Arborvitae (Green Giant, American Pillar, etc.) and Cypress (Murray, Leyland, etc.) have certain characteristics which makes them ideal candidates for privacy in high wind areas.

Arborvitae and Cypress are both lightweight trees relative to their size. I.e. a 16’ tree with the root ball weighs around 1,000 Lbs, but most of the weight is the root ball. The tree trunk and leaves probably weigh around 200 Lbs. It is unlikely that such a large size and low weight tree would cause significant damage to a structure.

Arborvitae and Cypress are also resistant to limbs breaking due to high wind, freezing rain or snow as the branches are pliable and light weight. Instead of breaking under the weight, they just bend until the weight falls off.

In hot weather and extremely high wind (65 MPH) sustained over several hours can dry out trees. In such conditions it is important to water the trees plenty to prevent the trees from drying out.

Snow covered Green Giant Arborvitae in Union, Kentucky