Living Ocotillo Fence

Ocotillo use in fencing.

Living ocotillo fence. Ocotillo handmade fence panels are truly unique to the southwest. Fences are made by cutting ocotillo branches intertwined with wire to keep them together. Dig a trench along the fence line that is at least 6 inches deep. There are many creative ways that people have installed and used ocotillo fencing but installation can be as easy as the following directions.

The traditional art of hand tying the canes together with wire is slowly disappearing. The plants are hardy in u s. It took them a few months to root but that was it. Civano nursery is one of the last few places in tucson that you will be lucky enough to find this product.

Due to their light weight and interesting pattern ocotillo branches have been used for. Ocotillo living fencing is a unique design element here in the desert southwest where its rustic appearance accentuates our landscape space and style. They can be set against an existing fence or stand on their own with a post every 5 to 10 feet for support depending on your install. By walks on rocks.

Install 6 foot t posts 2. We made panels of the ocotillos like 30 in each panel. To make living fence you only need dig a shallow trench and then hunt up the cactus respectfully. Individual ocotillo stems are sometimes used as poles as a fencing material in their native region and often take root to form a living fence.

We stretched a top wire for the fence and attached the panels to that making sure their bases were in the trench. Ocotillo is also called devil s walking stick and candlewood and grows well in full sun and sandy soil. Because they re hand made there s some variation in the exact length of each panel. Ocotillo cactus is very easy to grow in indigenous areas.

It is a material that is exciting in that it is unique to the region where it is used and it really gives a sense of the place. 6 x 5 and are available throughout. Ocotillo fences make very good coyote and privacy fences. You may plant ocotillo branch fences at any time of the year.

To fence our garden it took over 2 500 ocotillo stalks. If you snip a branch off and stick it in the desert dirt it s very likely take root and grow. Each panel is approximately 6 feet tall by 4 5 to 5 feet wide.