Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:152615

John, I wrestled with this decision a couple of years ago.

I had two very tall, but very lovely, cupressus trees. The tree surgeon
quoted £150 to either shorten them or take them out entirely. The tree
surgeon said that the trees could be shortened by one-third, and then after
a couple of years shortened again by another third (so the trees would
survive). However, he said that the trees would not be very attractive,
because the cut would just be a straight cut, not tapered. He also said
that autumn is a good time to do the job because the trees wouldn't start
growing back until spring. If the trees were not taken out, it would cost
£150 every couple of years to trim them (too high for DIY). So, the trees
were taken out completely.

However, I also had a hedge of smaller leylandii around the back garden.
The tree surgeon completely took out 2 sides of the hedge, but we chose to
keep one side of it (for greenery and privacy). However, it was trimmed
down to a little higher than a normal fence, so we can do our own DIY
trimming (twice a year) making sure the width as well as the height is
trimmed.

I expect eventually we'll have to chop down these trees because the trunks
will become too big. Without the hedge, privacy is now a problem, but at
least I can grow plants and flowers along the new fence.






"John Owens" wrote in message
...
I / We have a cupressus which is lovely but too high in parts. To be frank
we have to pay the gardener too much to trim it as he practically need
climbing gear and oxygen to reach it. (well at least a complex set of
ladders). We asked about reducing it by between 0.5-1.5 metres in parts.

Local advice is against it saying that we will kill it by doing so (it
resents being shortened ?).

My questions.

1) If that is true, what is the likely timescale of overall death ?
(e.g. 5 years before the bit below the cut is dead ?)

2) If that is partly true what is the advice trimming such a noble
beast down to size (e.g. best times of year, how much at one time ?)

3) How much do these things grow anyway ? e.g. If untended for three
years what happens ?

( the options a

a)uproot it and replace it with a fence,
with obvious short, medium and long term upkeep consequences

b)shorten it anyway and accept that a) would apply eventually (nn years ?)

c) shorten it and hope that a)might never apply

d) Let it get unkempt but infrequently rein it back in. )


And does anybody know of a facilities management newsgroup that might have
'average ' costs on hedging vs fencing ?



To add to complications. I am talking about the south of France where
there
is more rain than the tourist board makes public, albeit patchy. Also
labour costs are about the same as UK but achieve less in a day.

However. Simple answers to the above would be a good starting point.

Cheers all

-
John Owens


Fax 44 1509 89 08 22
www.GoodViews.co.uk