Shaded Yard. Huge Trees.

[Zwy]

Hell, I will never own a house that has a tree within falling distance of the house proper. I could tolerate outbuildings and stuff.

Too many homes just obliterated by falling trees in this area. I'd be fine being surrounded in deep woods on all sides... Long as the trees are far enough away.

Maybe in some parts of the country it's not an issue.

It depends on the tree. Hardwood like red or white oak won't bother. Soft maples on the other hand, no way. A hard maple that is only 25 to 30 feet tall, straight and filled out nicely will not be an issue.

Box elder is definite no. Coniferous like colorado blue spruce are fine. Really the best are hard maple filled out nice and pruned correctly so the air blows under in the shade and into the windows of the house.

I had to cut all of the ash trees down due to emerald ash borer. I have some shade from oak and maples farther away. I mounted one mini split on the east side of the house and the other on the west side. This helps in summer as at least one side of the house will be in shade and it helps in winter as one side gets sun during the day.

 

[740GLE]

Hell, I will never own a house that has a tree within falling distance of the house proper. I could tolerate outbuildings and stuff.

Too many homes just obliterated by falling trees in this area. I'd be fine being surrounded in deep woods on all sides... Long as the trees are far enough away.

Maybe in some parts of the country it's not an issue.

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.

Ideally we should have 2-3 dropped each year to open our area up a bit. Probably 10 +30” diameter white pines with in falling distance of our house and they are all up the back hill, only a handful are naturally leaning towards it.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

It depends on the tree. Hardwood like red or white oak won't bother. Soft maples on the other hand, no way. A hard maple that is only 25 to 30 feet tall, straight and filled out nicely will not be an issue.

Box elder is definite no. Coniferous like colorado blue spruce are fine. Really the best are hard maple filled out nice and pruned correctly so the air blows under in the shade and into the windows of the house.

I had to cut all of the ash trees down due to emerald ash borer. I have some shade from oak and maples farther away. I mounted one mini split on the east side of the house and the other on the west side. This helps in summer as at least one side of the house will be in shade and it helps in winter as one side gets sun during the day.

Try regular old southern pine trees. These things will look huge and healthy, then just rip out of the ground with a tiny rootball.

The hurricanes and tornadoes just absolutely decimate these things... No way one of them is gonna be in falling range of my house!

Also cockroaches and bugs really love pine straw...

 

[Warpspeed]

And these days WILDFIRES are something to think about too.

With 85 foot trees, you might as well be living at the bottom of a well as far as solar goes.

Probably hopelessly impractical, but could you mount a very few horizontal panels (to reduce wind loading) on top of a mast of some kind ?

 

[Zwy]

Try regular old southern pine trees. These things will look huge and healthy, then just rip out of the ground with a tiny rootball.

The hurricanes and tornadoes just absolutely decimate these things... No way one of them is gonna be in falling range of my house!

Also cockroaches and bugs really love pine straw...

No pine trees around my yard. Only spruce and white cedar that grow like weeds. The cedar are native. When planting trees, one should take into account the max height.

Any cottonwood around me dies a very sudden and violent death although it is amazing how tough the root system is. Black walnut, which I have plenty in the back, always grow a brace root directly north, south, east and west.

 

[quantum`]

Sickening how many just cut down trees. This is me:



I'm the brown blob in the middle. All the Californians around me are frightened the doug firs will 'fall on them' and I hear chainsaws all the time. Why move to the PacNW if you hate trees? Go back to SoCal and your dry desert scrub. Same reason they buy guns -- frightened people shaking in their boots. These trees have evolved for thousands of years to not just fall over.

I have 26kW of panels sitting in the garage waiting for my development and it is hard not being able to put some on my house, but I am not taking out 80 year old trees to do it. Maybe I could top some. A wind turbine couldn't be tall enough to get out of the turbulence. (100'+)

I will live in my forest and regretfully pay my $300 electric bill, thank you. No murdering of trees.

 

[glandpuck]

I would obtain a large helium filled balloon capable of lifting a solar panel array. I would anchor it above the tree line and harvest the power that way.

 

[quantum`]

I would obtain a large helium filled balloon capable of lifting a solar panel array. I would anchor it above the tree line and harvest the power that way.

Seems like it would swivel all about. And snag helicopters to fall on me...

 

[glandpuck]

Seems like it would swivel all about. And snag helicopters to fall on me...

Is that bad?

 

[quantum`]

Depends on your PoV...

Daddy Mt Fuji would love it.

 

[740GLE]

Seems like it would swivel all about. And snag helicopters to fall on me...

Probably only catch military helicopters.

. . . Too soon?

 

[740GLE]

Sickening how many just cut down trees. This is me:

View attachment 285252

I'm the brown blob in the middle. All the Californians around me are frightened the doug firs will 'fall on them' and I hear chainsaws all the time. Why move to the PacNW if you hate trees? Go back to SoCal and your dry desert scrub. Same reason they buy guns -- frightened people shaking in their boots. These trees have evolved for thousands of years to not just fall over.

I agree trees have evolved to not topple over but that was also in mature undisturbed forests.

Sadly around here standing trees around us are “first generation” after all land was clear cut and scrub farmed in the early 1800s, then the suburb boom of the mid 1900s cut into the fast growth adolescent trees and leaves them just waiting to fall 30 feet from the house/new development.

 

[quantum`]

That's why plant legacy trees. Here Western Red Cedar, Doug Fir. I'm going to plant a line of Giant Sequoia so that after I'm dead they'll cover up these monstrosities they're building outside my window.



Thought about planting fruit and nut trees to make something productive, but not now. I've put in the water line for drip irrigation; now it's a matter of getting staff over here.

 

[Zwy]

I have 26kW of panels sitting in the garage waiting for my development

I will live in my forest and regretfully pay my $300 electric bill, thank you.

I think you should sell the panels and just pay the utility bill. 80 foot fir trees surrounding the panels and you would be lucky to get a few sun hours per day.

No murdering of trees.

Trees are a renewable resource and should be harvested when the max economic value is reached. The key is not to clear cut very large areas at once. If disease hits, then harvest everything and replant. Large forest fires due to dead wood is just a recipe for disaster.

 

[AmpD]

Trees are great until you are are watching tv and one lands in your kitchen. We told the landlord it needed to go. When it was all said and done his new bay window view looked great!

 

[quantum`]

I think you should sell the panels and just pay the utility bill. 80 foot fir trees surrounding the panels and you would be lucky to get a few sun hours per day.

The panels are for my 9 house development. First delivery.

I just wish I could have some on my house. I could look at topping a few trees. My metal 'tile' roof has oxidization on the north face, indicating it does get more Sun than the other sides, but I can't tilt more than one row plus a set of evac-tubes.

Trees are a renewable resource and should be harvested when the max economic value is reached. The key is not to clear cut very large areas at once. If disease hits, then harvest everything and replant. Large forest fires due to dead wood is just a recipe for disaster.

Trees are not a 'resource'. They are a totem. A monument. An invaluable expression of Nature with all the creatures that come with it. Not a gallon of gas.

Trees are great until you are are watching tv and one lands in your kitchen. We told the landlord it needed to go. When it was all said and done his new bay window view looked great!

You don't say whether it fell or not. If it did fall it was hemlock (second-growth) or alder (junk, except for smoking BBQ). I have some alder -- want it? I need to build a house there.

 

[green mountain boys]

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.

Ideally we should have 2-3 dropped each year to open our area up a bit. Probably 10 +30” diameter white pines with in falling distance of our house and they are all up the back hill, only a handful are naturally leaning towards it.

This is how I handle those tall pines close to the house.

 

[Zwy]

Trees are not a 'resource'. They are a totem. A monument. An invaluable expression of Nature with all the creatures that come with it. Not a gallon of gas.

Trees are resource just like the air you breathe, the food you eat, the water you drink.

If you don't want to use any resources, that would require you to live in a cave, stop eating, breathing and no water for you.

Nature provides for life and trees are just another part of the life cycle. Once a tree hits the max economic value, it should be harvested so a new tree can sprout and come to life. Tall trees that heavily shade the ground and don't allow sunlight to reach new growth actually hinder the ecosystem. Wildlife and habitat need the energy from the sun to reach the ground. I have yet to see a moose, for example, climb a tree so it can eat the leaves off the branches.

 

[kolek]

Are there ways to overcome a shady yard

It's expensive but you can do long wire runs to open area if you have that option

 

[kolek]

I will live in my forest and regretfully pay my $300 electric bill, thank you. No murdering of trees.

So no 2x4's used in the building of your house?

I have 26kW of panels sitting in the garage waiting for my development

Well, that's not very eco friendly is it. Think of all the natural resources chewed up to make 26k in panels, to have them sit in a garage and never see sunshine.

 

[nc73]

I loathe trees. If they are 200ft away I'm good with them. I deal with the crappy shade in winter due to neigbhors tall trees. They either like it or can't afford to chop it down. In any case solar is just prepaid electricity. There is no ROI. Don't let people fool you unless your electric bill is 300 a month.

 

[chamilun]

Spent two of the last 4 days cutting down 4 trees to get rid of shadows. The solar input increases by about 50%

 

[atlsolar]

One path that might be viable, is to look at your bill and see if the power rate is always the same, no matter the time of day or situation, vs having substantially different rates depending on the time of day.

This is what I just ended up doing. No good area for solar, and the power goes out a couple times a month. Originally looked into just getting a generator, but that would sit 99% of the time unused and just be an expense.

Ended up getting 80kwh batteries, switched to a time of use plan for $.02x/kwh at night. Breakeven in a few years, but will have the battery backup when needed and hopefully save about $5k/year in electricity costs (assuming the utility doesn’t get rid of the plan or change the spread).

Even though I’ll have horrible solar, I did go ahead and buy 18 used panels for $20ea (about $.08/w). Somewhat just to play and learn with, but also to help with some additional power “insurance”.

Is there anywhere on you property, maybe a driveway that gets even a little sun? Also, depending on where you are, how does time of year change things? For me, I get pretty good sun from like November - April, when the trees have less leaves and sun lower in the sky. That’s a small slice of the year, but it’s not nothing…

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

I loathe trees. If they are 200ft away I'm good with them. I deal with the crappy shade in winter due to neigbhors tall trees. They either like it or can't afford to chop it down. In any case solar is just prepaid electricity. There is no ROI. Don't let people fool you unless your electric bill is 300 a month.

at one time I had 500 dollar electric bills at my primary house in yokosuka... slapped 8kWh of panels on that house in a grid tied setup and my effective monthly electric bill is now about70 USD. between self consumption and sell back profits thats what my monthly average works out to be.

to clarify that was a ¥48,000 bill when the yen to dollar rate was 90¥/$ so the conversion works out to roughly 500 USD. obviousoly with the current yen to doallar rate it would not have been nearly so bad. I get paid in both Yen and Dollars depending upon the contract that I am working so i stock both to avoid getting pinched by exchange rates.

 

[sumpower]

I like trees, thats why there are 17 cords of wood in the shed.