Anyone put up snow fence any more?

[dirt ditch]

Does anyone use plastic square mesh barrier snow fence? I am thinking of trying it and want opinions on it's use.

Just off my driveway on the county road is a quarter of farm ground that the crops are always cut short or there is wheat on it during winter. For the second time in 2 weeks a 200 yard length of the road was drifted over with 2-3+ foot drifts which took me 21/2 hours to plow a passable road through after work last night. It is several days before the county gets to our road after a snow storm or I would not worry about it.

Getting permission to put up a temporary fence form my neighbor would not be a problem. My granddad has some 50+ year old wooden snow fence but there is not enough to cover the distance and it needs some repair work. State dot policy is to set fence up away from the road 35 X the height of the fence. Unfortunately they don't use snow fence anywhere around here to see what their using or how it works.

 

[westbrooklawn]

Wow, this post brought back memories of my childhood in Port Jervis, NY. We lived outside of town on a state road, and the county put up wooden snow fence for miles... up in the fall, and down in the spring. The drifts along those fences would not melt until April.

I don't imagine you can even buy wooden snow fence anymore, but I would think the orange plastic fence (used around here to mark tree protection zones in construction areas), would work fine. You can purchase it at any erosion control supply house.

 

[oldnslo]

Still used some here in northern Illinois by the old timers. State and county doesn't seem to use it any more.

Biggest challenge is getting it set the correct distance from the road. May take a little experimenting. I have two rows of fence in some real open areas.

Roy

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

They still put it up in various locations around here...the orange plastic stuff.

 

[rus_geek]

I'm still putting up snow fence, at least until my tree barrier gets tall/thick enough that I don't have to. There is a mile of open field leading up to my driveway, so it can drift pretty bad without the fence. My current fence is a mix of old wood & wire, the plastic mesh and a sort of string mesh/netting fence that I really don't care for, but tried anyway.

Wood is the most durable and takes the least attachment to the posts, I usually hook the top wire over the post and just twist a piece of wire near the bottom of each post. Strong winds and subzero temperatures make attaching the plastic fence more of a challenge. My fence has broken loose of the posts twice this year. The best method of attachment (I'll use it on the whole stretch next year) that I've found during my repairs is to sandwich the fence between the t-post and either a spare t-post (i have some rusted-off that are only four feet long now) or a piece of wood, and then tie the two posts together. This keeps point loads off the fence, so it won't tear off the post as easily.

My fence is about sixty feet from the driveway. Last winter the drifts completely buried the fence and still didn't reach the driveway, so I like the distance.

-rus-

 

[robb01]

Ive seen them around here, never needed one myself though

 

[Tig]

I bought a roll of the wood stuff two years ago and researched how to set it up. Here is a thread.
From what I found out a 4' fence should be 4" off the ground so the wind can sweep under it. This prevents the drift from consuming the fence.
It aso should to be 140' from the area you are protecting.
Last year was my first with the blower so I left the snow fence in the shed. This year we have no snow. So, I haven't actually used my snow fence yet.

 

[Tul01]

I put up some of the plastic snow fence in the field across from our driveway as it tends to drift directly up our driveway. it is working great. I used wooden posts i pushed in with the loader, not too far. I have also made snow windrows in the past, but the fence so far has been easier and stopped more. It is almost maxed out now so I may have to add some windrows

Brent

 

[studor]

I have both wooden and plastic fence -- as Tig has said, the distance and clearance on the bottom are important. Place it wrong and you will have even higher drifts Both work fine -- the municipality puts up the plastic stuff in a couple of places near me and lots of farm laneways have it as well.
Three rows of corn left standing make a very good snowfence too

 

[Tig]

Good point about the corn Studor. In the Ottawa area most snow fence has been replaced by standing corn. They'll leave a 20' wide strip standing along the road edge of a field. It does do a great job.
Since it is such a widespread pracitce in that area I expect that the townships have negotiated this arrangement with the farmers. It would save the township a considerable amount of labour and fuel to eliminate drifts for the price of corn.