"JJE O'Connor" wrote in message
...
I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or
fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which
case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

Regards Jim

I remember reading somewhere that what you need is both height and density,
so that for example trees were very poor unless you had a deep wood, and
conversely a very dense hedge that was only 6ft high wouldnt be much good
either as the sound just travels over the top.

Which probably makes the dreaded leylandii your best bet. How far is it to
the rd? IF its within a few feet, probably the best you can do is make sure
the sides of the house are well blocked so the back garden is quiet!


--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups)

in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?
--

Sacha

In article , JJE O'Connor
writes
I've moved into a house next to a busy main road. Does anyone one have any
advice on how I can minimise noise please ? I do not wanty to build a wall
or a fence. I was thinking of a hedge , in which case what sort of hedge
would be most effective ?

You would do equally well to post to alt.sci.physics.acoustics

However, planting has a negligible effect on noise levels, unless you
can plant with rain-forest type density - ie many many plants, very
close together. The psychological effect is greater than the actual
numerical effect in terms of dB.

You would be better off building a fence/wall, then, if you don't like
how that looks, planting either side of it to hide it. The fence, will
have a noticeable benefit anywhere that the line of sight to the road is
broken. The fence should be close boarded, imperforate and timber
(typically marine grade ply, or similar heavy wood).

(In case you are wondering, I am a Senior Acoustic Consultant with Sound
Research Laboratories Ltd, in London, UK)
--
Nick Treby

"JJE O'Connor" wrote in message
...
I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or
fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which
case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

A hedge will be of very little value. What stops noise is mass, which is why
the usual noise reduction method around places like industrial estates is a
high, wide earth bank. A good, solid, thick brick wall will be the most
effective, but you will need planning permission for the wall to be more
than one metre high. Make sure that any openings in the wall are either
baffled with another wall inside the opening, or are fitted with solid,
heavy gates and don't expect miracles.

Colin Bignell

Probably one of the times when Leylandii is your best bet


"JJE O'Connor" wrote in message
...
I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or
fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which
case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

Regards Jim

"JJE O'Connor" wrote in message
...
I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or
fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which
case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

Regards Jim


Sometimes better to distract, rather than block, so running water or a hedge
that rustles (ie bamboo)

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

Nick Treby wrote in
:

In article , JJE O'Connor
writes
I've moved into a house next to a busy main road. Does anyone one have
any advice on how I can minimise noise please ? I do not wanty to
build a wall or a fence. I was thinking of a hedge , in which case
what sort of hedge would be most effective ?


However, planting has a negligible effect on noise levels, unless you
can plant with rain-forest type density - ie many many plants, very
close together. The psychological effect is greater than the actual
numerical effect in terms of dB.

You would be better off building a fence/wall, then, if you don't like
how that looks, planting either side of it to hide it.

Might be worth considering a Devon/Cornish style wall bank which can be
grassed with a small hedge on top. They seem to be very effective against
noise, and look very natural and pretty with primroses growin up the side.

Along the North Devon Link road they wanted this effect, but creating earth
banks and stone walls to hold them would have been prohibitively expensive.

Instead, they lined up a row of those great square nets of stone they use
for sea defenses, dumped a bit of soil on the top, draped turf over it and
stuck young beech saplings on top. I thought this would never work, but I
have to admit it looks just like the thousand year old ones now unless you
look really closely, and must have been comparatively very cheap to do.

In a domestic setting you could water to get the turf and trees
established more quickly too.

Victoria

In article , Charlie
Pridham writes

"JJE O'Connor" wrote in message
...
I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or
fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which
case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

Regards Jim


Sometimes better to distract, rather than block, so running water or a hedge
that rustles (ie bamboo)

That presupposes you can actually *hear* the rustling against the
background traffic!
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?
?

Mike

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forthcoming reunions. H.M.S.Collingwood Association Chatham May 30th - June 2nd
British Pacific Fleet Hayling Island Sept 5th - 8th
Castle Class Corvettes Assn. Isle of Wight. Oct 3rd - 6th.
R.N. Trafalgar Weekend Leamington Spa. Oct 10th - 13th. Plus many more

in article , Mike at
wrote on 7/5/03 5:29 pm:

In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?
?


Oh, dear. Just like all other plants, hedging plants have climatic
tolerances, as well as location ones. Some of what we use for hedging in
Devon, might not work in parts of Yorkshire or in Cumbria or in Aberdeen.
And Griselinia, for example, is very tolerant of salt air.

--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

The message
from Mike contains these words:
In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any
advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall
or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in
which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?
?

Of course it is. E = MC² and all that. The nearer the equator you are,
the faster you're spinning round and round in relation to
something-or-earther, and that molishes you and all the traffic smaller,
so less noise is made.

Your ears are smaller too, so you hear less of it. That's why deafness
is such a promble in Equatorial 105 New Pence.

HTH

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi

"Mike" wrote in message
...
In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have
any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall
or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in
which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?
?

Yes - depending on the road surface used. There is special noise
reduced asphalt !
Jenny

In article , JennyC
writes

"Mike" wrote in message
...
In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have
any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall
or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in
which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?
?

Yes - depending on the road surface used. There is special noise
reduced asphalt !
Jenny


Well "Berkshire" as an answer would be no good because the Newbury Bye-
Pass is of the new 'quiet' Asphalt, but other parts of Berkshire are
noisy. The question was 'In which part of the country do you live?' Not
'Which type of road surface is contributing to the noise?'

Mike

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forthcoming reunions. H.M.S.Collingwood Association Chatham May 30th - June 2nd
British Pacific Fleet Hayling Island Sept 5th - 8th
Castle Class Corvettes Assn. Isle of Wight. Oct 3rd - 6th.
R.N. Trafalgar Weekend Leamington Spa. Oct 10th - 13th. Plus many more

On Wed, 7 May 2003 17:29:12 +0100, Mike
wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes
in article , JJE O'Connor at
wrote on 4/5/03 9:10 pm:

I have moved into a house next to a main road. Does anyone have any advice
on how I can minimise traffic noise please ? I do not want a wall or fence.
What plants are best for this - I've been thinking of a hedge in which case
any advice on what sort of hedge please ?

In which part of the country do you live?

?
Is the road noise 'less' in certain areas?

Come on Mike!

'Areas' give different strokes to different plants.

Huss
Grow a little garden

spam block - for real addy, reverse letters of second level domain.

"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , Charlie
Pridham writes

"JJE O'Connor" wrote in
message
...
Sometimes better to distract, rather than block, so running water or a
hedge
that rustles (ie bamboo)

That presupposes you can actually *hear* the rustling against the
background traffic!
--
Kay Easton

I will admit to slightly less than perfect hearing :~)

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)