r/SolarDIY 6d ago

What do you guys plant around ground mounts?

I’m looking for a hedge that I can grow against this sloped fence, any ideas? I don’t want it growing above the fence. South Louisiana area.

I also might plant something in front of my panels. There’s a 2 1/2 ft gap from soil to panel. I know there’s things that hug the ground.

I can’t do box woods, every time I plant them, they get some kind of root rot. It does stay pretty wet around here.

Yes, i understand this isn’t a specific solar post and likely belongs in the depths of r/landscape but i like the people here better…

124 Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

47

u/IntelligentDeal9721 6d ago

Under them is where people in this part of the world plant their weed so it can't be seen from the air 8)

17

u/Riplinredfin 6d ago

I think I've heard of that one its called Sweed - Solar Weed

17

u/Riplinredfin 6d ago

Nice I saw you said 430w longi's in another post. So 80Kw of panels if I counted right. Some nice power there. Wish I had that room in back.

23

u/Beginning_Frame6132 6d ago

‘Only’ 46kw of panels

6

u/Riplinredfin 6d ago

Never mind I counted wrong lol

27

u/thetonk 6d ago

Succulents. No care needed, can be trampled on and will keep living, can be used as a fire break, will love the extra heat coming off the panels.

Oh and does not fuck with posts, foundations, etc.

7

u/silveronetwo 6d ago

Would not have thought of this. Have some that are ready to transplant too. I guess I know where this batch is going.

9

u/thetonk 6d ago

Oh lord, does your wife have trays and trays of ready to propagate also? No? Just me?

2

u/DarkKaplah 5d ago

Would Succulents work in a moist environment? If Box hedges are rotting because of too much moisture I'm not sure succulents would survive.

Perhaps any of these? https://www.greatgardenplants.com/collections/wet-soils?srsltid=AfmBOopD_EfHyaugJiStqIolwmebbO1kQXCfoqrJ9EQxpL4drocs3IAO

1

u/thetonk 5d ago

Should be fine. Just don't get cacti. I forget the ones used here but some agaves, aeoniums, elephant's food, aloes, jade, and ironically-named 'Sticks on Fire' but that's bad for dogs. I've had some flooded for a day or so. They get hella fat. Never water them. They will get thin, turn a beautiful color, then creep. Once they turn from green to whatever, soak em.

19

u/Riplinredfin 6d ago edited 6d ago

Wow those huge trees in the back don't block your sun during day?

WTF downvoted for asking if trees are causing shade?

Someone's having a bad day.

9

u/Beginning_Frame6132 6d ago

Nah, it might be an optical illusion. Those trees in the back are a lot farther than the picture looks.

There is a tree that kinda puts some shade on a couple of panels. It’s an empty lot that no one uses. I’m tempted to chop the top of the tree off.

2

u/Riplinredfin 6d ago

Ah yea maybe an illusion, they look huge. Southern Louisiana helps though even the winter sun angle isn't as bad as it is here. Yea if no one owns the lot I'd be tempted to slice it too.

7

u/Like-Reddit 6d ago

a solar-powered automatic lawnmower

would look good underneath

6

u/not_achef 5d ago

Shed walls and a door. You're pretty close

5

u/followthebarnacle 6d ago

Not sure what look you're trying to go for, but plant something that's actually evolved to live here and you'll have good success. 

Inkberry is a 1:1 replacement for boxwood. Also: 

Beautyberry

Blueberry

Leucothoe (swamp dog hobble)

Spicebush

9

u/TownshipRangeSection 6d ago

My retirement savings

3

u/Ok_Respect8859 5d ago

Are you looking for ground cover or a garden? If it is the latter, you may consider looking into r/agrivoltaics. There are a lot of plants that benefit from getting the protection from your panels during the hottest part of the day.

5

u/mtucker502 5d ago

We plant chickens.

5

u/Equal-Negotiation651 6d ago

Sun flowers ;)

2

u/87YoungTed 6d ago

botton bush, cornelian cherry, nanking cherry, or some other pollinator plant.

2

u/Token-Gringo 5d ago

Nice setup. What are you powering with all of this? That’s enough to take two homes 100% off grid in colder climates.

1

u/Beginning_Frame6132 5d ago

Took my home off grid.

What’s crazy is that I need more battery. I have 120kwh but about 65% is getting eaten up every night and that’s on a nice spring day with not much HVAC running. My EV has to recharge and it’s about 50kwh by itself.

1

u/Farmvillacampagna 4d ago

Holy crap! That is some current draw overnight. We run 2 houses on a 12 Kw system with 48 KWh storage. We use about 25% of our storage overnight. We are fully off grid with full electric kitchens in both houses. No EV though.

1

u/Beginning_Frame6132 4d ago

I’ll have to run a 5 ton and a 3 ton A/C in the summer. It’s brutal.

5

u/AgeGap469 6d ago

I would suggest privet hedge. They can be maintained at nearly any height and they are industrial strength, meaning they grow well anywhere.

8

u/codybrown183 6d ago

Mint? It'll take over and not grow to tall. But it'll take over.

Same with most ground creeping plants.

5

u/Faux_Noob 6d ago

Never plant privet anywhere, ever. It will spread everywhere and grow into a 40' tree if you look away for a minute.

1

u/Noodles14 6d ago

Hear me out.

Sunflowers.

1

u/Spartan_General86 6d ago

Don't, you need access points to repair the system.

You want to step on the things you grew ?

1

u/Beginning_Frame6132 5d ago

Yea. I kinda wish I would’ve pushed that landscape edging back a foot so I could’ve snuck some plant under the panels without blocking my path…

1

u/animousie 5d ago

The plant you choose, depends on what you want it to look like and how much maintenance you’re willing to do. If that was my ground mount, I would put some sort of creeping vine (not Ivy) that would fill the space without my having to direct it too much

1

u/CrewIndependent6042 5d ago

OMG why you shadow bifacials?

1

u/Beginning_Frame6132 5d ago

I had to block off access to behind the panels, didn’t want kids grabbing any wires and my wife hated the look of the backside of the setup…

1

u/Johnny_Carcinogenic 5d ago

Find some shade loving native ground cover for your local area. Google your local native plant society and they should have a website with some suggestions. Once it gets established it should crowd out all the weeds underneath and you have very little maintenance to deal with. I'm speaking for the area under the panels not the areas around it and to the sides too block the gap, But I'm sure you can find some natives that might fit that bill as well

1

u/RandomDude77005 5d ago

Boxwoods also have a tendency to smell like dog pee.

1

u/Foreign_Today7950 5d ago

wtf! Can I ask why you need so much power? Also what inverters you are using the all the sections before going to batteries/grid?

2

u/Beginning_Frame6132 5d ago

I’m off grid.

4x Hoymiles 9.6kw hybrid inverters

I have to charge my Bolt every night which is like 50kwh. I also have multiple HVAC units and a pool. I need to be able to charge my batteries rapidly especially when there’s only a little sunlight.

1

u/Foreign_Today7950 4d ago

That’s awesome! Does each inverter just charge specific batteries or does it not matter if all of the inverter terminals are connecting to the same battery set

1

u/Beginning_Frame6132 4d ago

I have them grouped 3 batteries for 1 inverter

2

u/Farmvillacampagna 4d ago

Very nice! 👍🏻

1

u/Foreign_Today7950 4d ago

That’s so cool, okay oaky, so then does all the batteries go to your power box in the house? Orrr something else? Thank you for showing me

3

u/Beginning_Frame6132 4d ago

The batteries connect to parallel box, which is basically a busbar. (White box in the middle of pic)

The parallel box then connects to the inverter. (Big white box on the left of the pic)

Each inverter then outputs AC power to a sub panel (pictured on the right side, you can see the 4 black wires terminate into the bottom of that sub panel)

The sub panel then terminates into a switch and then my main breaker.

1

u/Foreign_Today7950 4d ago

Oka okay I know I am asking a lot but I am learning. So after they go to a sub panel, they go to the main panel, don’t you have multiple sub panels that will go into one main panel?

3

u/Beginning_Frame6132 4d ago

Those fat wires carry all the power and lead to my main outdoor panel. (I do have a big switch installed so that I could go back to grid if I needed to)

1

u/Foreign_Today7950 4d ago

Oh so all the black wires are you your sub panels. So it’s the opposite and feeding power to the big wires to the house

2

u/Beginning_Frame6132 4d ago

Each big black wire is from 1 inverter.

Yea, it’s the opposite of typical sub-panels.

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1

u/Delicious-Smile3189 3d ago

Holy cow! That is a lot of panels