Screen

[fcgprg]

What is the best fast growing plants to get in Thailand to form a screen shaded area.

[isanbirder]

If you want to screen out the neighbours, bamboo. There's a certain kind which is used for this; any nursery will know it.

[Rimmer]

My wife and I just dug out 30 small leaf bamboo plants that we put in two years ago, they make a good fast growing screen all right but the mess from them is incredible also the work they generate trying to keep them in some sort of shape is never ending, they also kill all the grass for meters around. Never again!!

[p_brownstone]

Bamboo is not a good choice as already mentioned - it leaves a great deal of mess, dead leaves etc. - and in addition, since the fronds grow very close together from the main source, can be a place where vermin make a home and thus attract snakes.

A better suggestion is the "Asoke" tree, a slender trunked tree with thick, drooping foliage. You can plant them quite close together - a couple of feet apart, and they grow quite quickly.

Only problem is that they are not very strong - a thin trunk as already mentioned - so may be damaged in major wind-storms.

Patrick

Edited August 2, 2010 by p_brownstone

[JohnLeech]

Agree with the point on bamboo, as I have piles of it! Asoke trees are unlucky in private houses in Thailand, however, which is why you normally only find them around schools, hospitals and other government buildings - they are supposed to make you sad, which is probably not unreasonable in those particular locations!

Try sugar cane - not so fast growing, but not bad, and very lucky.

[sbk]

Ditto on the bamboo. You don't say how tall you want your screen to be, but presumably more than head height. You should consider a hibiscus hedge, it takes awhile to grow to the required height if starting small but if you buy some good size plants, plant them fairly close to one another and fertilize them well, you will have a colorful hedge.

Alternatively, you could consider alternating hibiscus with full size ixora plants. Throw in a few leafy multi colored crotons and have a mixed hedge that, with a bit of time, will be quite tall and low maintenancy

[lingnoi1977]

Jung, Heliconia, Mok.

Check them all out at Khamtien

[drtreelove]

It's hard to beat banana plants for a fast growing, dense screen. Bananas are not always appropriate for a manicured landscape, and you should have enough space, 2 to 3 meters wide planting strip. There are different varieties and growing heights.

The photo below shows a banana screen about one year after planting one meter tall shoots. The house behind was almost completely screened within 10 months so that it could hardly be seen. This planting had optimum irrigation and fertilization with manure. And the bonus is huge bunches of delicious bananas.

Edited August 17, 2010 by drtreelove