Inga as windbreak

[HIfarm]

After just cutting up another Inga tree that came down the other day without any strong winds, I thought it might be useful to post about them.  I have seen references to their use as windbreaks a number of time so utilized them in mine.  I have planted feuillei, striata, edulis, and spectabilis.  I have found feuillei to be pretty much useless.  This last one is the 3rd or 4th that have fallen over or split and come down.  I also had one that started to fall over but I pulled it upright with my tractor, cut branches off one side to reduce weight on that side, and staked it back up with t-posts.  I have also had a few instances of large branches breaking on these.  Surprisingly, I don't recall them breaking when we were experiencing any especially strong winds.

The root system seems to run very shallow along the top of the soil.  I do not know if this is typical or a function of our clay soil and abundant rainfall.  I suspect that this is a big factor in them just falling over.

I have had one or two cases of striata breaking limbs but no tree failures so far (knock on wood).  I have not had problems with the edulis or spectabilis to date.  These trees have a more vase-like structure rather than spreading like feuillei (although I must admit I pruned the feuillei and striata to encourage a denser, spreading canopy).  The spectabilis and edulis were also put in later and are a bit smaller than the other two species.

I just wanted to raise a red flag for anyone who may be considering these for windbreak duty.  I liked the idea of getting fruit from the windbreak and getting the bonus of nitrogen fixation.  I am kicking myself now for having used them as I am spending time I could spend on the orchard with cleaning up these things and just praying that they don't take out my hogwire fence when they come down.

[Oolie]

Here they send roots deep, but our rain is heavy and infrequent. Our soils are also quite deep.

Seems like unfortunately it will not perform this duty well in your area.

[happyhana]

Good info, thanks for sharing your experience

As for eating, which do you prefer? I’ve only tried feuillei, good flavor, but terrible mass of chewy paper pulp.

[Finca La Isla]

What do you think about Jakfruit as a windbreak?
Pandanus?
Just wondering.
Peter

[Oolie]

I've never had a bad felluli, but the gene pool here is rather small.

I prefer the sweet slightly cinnamon taste of the edulis, it's like a large feijoa petal.

I've heard that tamarind make great windbreaks, and they are also leguminous.

Without training the roots deep, I don't think the outcome would be any different.

[happyhana]

Oh, don’t wish to talk bad about a fruit on account of my possible misidentification. Here’s what I’m calling feuillei



I love feijoa flowers, edulis makes the list

[HIfarm]

Good info, thanks for sharing your experience

As for eating, which do you prefer? I’ve only tried feuillei, good flavor, but terrible mass of chewy paper pulp.

I like them all.  I think I like striata a little more than feuillei.  My spectabilis bore for the first time earlier this year, only one pod and I missed it -- thought it had a little longer to good but I guess not.  I also like edulis but I think a little less than the other two.  The first edulis pods I harvested were a little too early (they looked big but still developed more girth with time) so the arils was a bit small and were not too sweet but were nice additions in salads.  Later, they were much sweeter.

I don't feel any ingas I have tried so far are anything you'd want to binge on day after day but they are nice for a change of pace from time to time.  I haven't really felt like they had a papery pulp but maybe individuals trees or just personal preference.

[HIfarm]

What do you think about Jakfruit as a windbreak?
Pandanus?
Just wondering.
Peter

Pandanus (hala) seem like they would be a bit slow and a bit too "airy" to be very good but maybe not with multiple rows of windbreak.  I really like hala and planted a variegated one in my front yard that was supposed to be P. tectorius but ended up being some other species that just formed a huge dome.  It ended up maybe 10' tall and about 16' diameter before I took the chainsaw to it.  Man, what a job to chop that beast out -- heavy trunks laying along the ground, intertwining and rooting as they went.

I have a friend who is very hot on artocarpus for windbreak.  I don't think he has any practical experience with it yet (at least not long enough to say yes or no).  I am planning on putting jackfruit and pedalai in to replace the inga (gradual transition).  I suspect it should work out ok.

[HIfarm]

Oh, don’t wish to talk bad about a fruit on account of my possible misidentification. Here’s what I’m calling feuillei



I love feijoa flowers, edulis makes the list

That looks like what I have as feuillei.

[fruitlovers]

My experience is very different from yours John. I have ingas as windbreak and never had an inga tree fall over, and in 30 years never had a single branch break. I'm wondering if you have some kind of root damage from weevils or other insects, or boring insects in the branches causing your problems?

[HIfarm]

My experience is very different from yours John. I have ingas as windbreak and never had an inga tree fall over, and in 30 years never had a single branch break. I'm wondering if you have some kind of root damage from weevils or other insects, or boring insects in the branches causing your problems?

Thanks for the input, Oscar.  It certainly doesn't make me feel any better.  I know that the branches are clear of boring insects since there is no sign of anything at the break point or when I chop them up.  I suppose that there could be something going on in the roots as I have not tried to pull the stumps.  The trees look healthy & vigorous, bearing multiple crops per year, no hints until the tree is suddenly down.  Maybe I have pissed off some menehune....

[Oolie]

It's a felluli, but the fruit are way under ripe.

[fruitlovers]

My experience is very different from yours John. I have ingas as windbreak and never had an inga tree fall over, and in 30 years never had a single branch break. I'm wondering if you have some kind of root damage from weevils or other insects, or boring insects in the branches causing your problems?

Thanks for the input, Oscar.  It certainly doesn't make me feel any better.  I know that the branches are clear of boring insects since there is no sign of anything at the break point or when I chop them up.  I suppose that there could be something going on in the roots as I have not tried to pull the stumps.  The trees look healthy & vigorous, bearing multiple crops per year, no hints until the tree is suddenly down.  Maybe I have pissed off some menehune....

Here in Puna rocky soil they sure don't behave like in your clay. I suppose the wet soft clay could be too weak to hold them?

[Mike T]

I have seen farms in windy areas with whole rows of big jackfruit as windbreaks and they do well. Inga edulis is also used occasionally here and they get big. Having soft brittle wood they are prone to snapping off limbs in strong winds.

[HIfarm]

Here in Puna rocky soil they sure don't behave like in your clay. I suppose the wet soft clay could be too weak to hold them?

Maybe this is true.  The ones that have just fallen over have not had breaks in the main roots.  Most of the main roots are right on top of the soil.  It almost looks like the roots were not able to grip the soil and just slid. 

[HIfarm]

I have seen farms in windy areas with whole rows of big jackfruit as windbreaks and they do well. Inga edulis is also used occasionally here and they get big. Having soft brittle wood they are prone to snapping off limbs in strong winds.

Thanks for the info, Mike.  Artocarpus seemed like they would be tough enough to serve well for windbreak & nice to have your confirmation on it.  I kind of expected that the inga would loose a branch from time to time (as a general rule of thumb, it seems like trees that grow real fast aren't real tough).  However having them just flop out of the ground has been upsetting.

[fruitlovers]

Here in Puna rocky soil they sure don't behave like in your clay. I suppose the wet soft clay could be too weak to hold them?

Maybe this is true.  The ones that have just fallen over have not had breaks in the main roots.  Most of the main roots are right on top of the soil.  It almost looks like the roots were not able to grip the soil and just slid.

How windy is your area? What is the highest speed winds the ingas were exposed to?

[Mike T]

I was getting at ingas being fine for windbreaks in the trade wind littoral zones where 25 to 30kn continual seasonal winds need to be sheltered from. Ingas however are not fans of higher wind speeds from storms or even hurricane/cyclone/typhoon systems even of a low category. Like say Pometias the branches just bust off.

[Finca La Isla]

I like the idea of Jakfruit.  I’m not sure that every artocarpus would work.  But a friend has Jakfruit as a windbreak on Omotepe island and we are talking about very strong, very dry wind that blows for weeks.  Jakfruit has been easier for us to shape than most of the artocarpus we grow.

Inga is one of the trees used for shade for cacao in agroforestry schemes in CR.  It’s particularly good for mulch, firewood, biochar, etc.
Peter

[hawkfish007]

My Inga was leaning over my neighbor's 3' high bush hedge after the Santa Ana we had on Monday, fortunately, I was able to plant it back the same day. It is over a year old (planted from a 5 gal pot) and over 15' high with 3" trunk that is after pruning it to 8' this May. I checked my weather station and it showed we had 30 mph wind gusts. It is about 10' from the house and partially shielded from direct wind. I don't think Ingas can handle Santa Anas in SoCal unless they are mature.

[HIfarm]

How windy is your area? What is the highest speed winds the ingas were exposed to?

We typically have almost constant breeze here but generally not very strong.  For the most part, the trees are not breaking or coming down during high wind.  I just had another split near the base since starting this thread (need to check, I think it is a feuillei but might be a striata).  We've had some rain but not unusually strong winds.  That being said, I am right along the Honoli'i.  I think sometimes there are some weird wind patterns because of the pali.  Perhaps it is abrupt changes in wind direction causing the problem.  I have seen wind changing direction maybe 120 degrees or more within a couple of minutes max.

[fruitlovers]

Have ingas here in lower Puna planted along fence line. They've done fine with the constant trade winds, usually no higher than 30 mph. But they stood up fine also in 50 mph gusty winds during tropical storm Iselle in 2014. They are Inga feuillei. Had one Inga spectabilis split at the trunk in Hamakua coast, but i think that was probably due to borer beetle damage, but not sure.
I think Mike is right and they do fine in most areas with lower winds, but probably would not stand up well in areas prone to hurricanes, like Queensland, Austarlia or southern Florida.

[Nyuu]

I believe it should work well because I have ice cream bean tree unknown species went through Hurricane Irma . I live in Central Florida had a few trees get fall over yet the ice cream bean tree didn't budge . Trees fell over nearby my ice cream bean are Chok Anan mango , allspice tree , moneytree , rainbow eucalyptus  and Ylang-ylang tree