On 18/8/05 11:39, in article
, "Cat(h)"
wrote:


Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "nambucca" contains these words:

Since Leylandii strip the ground of nutrients i would not have left the
roots in ..........when i removed some i painstakingly cleared out the soil
around every root and got them out .......then i was able to pile in tons of
compost and the new plantings soon got going

Theres no substitute for doing a proper job

Well, any 'tree surgeon' worth his salt would have offered (for a rather
larger fee, of course) to take the roots out as well - which is much
easier *BEFORE* they have been cut off at the base.

The tree surgeon would have done so, had he not been warned by me not
to disturb the neighbour's garden: you see, the leylandii are on the
boundary, and while we have lovely neighbours, we weren't about to turn
into the neighbours from hell by destroying their beautifully planted
border on the immediate other side of the boundary. Surely, if cutting
the trees down kills them, the roots are no longer pumping nutrients.
They might even provide some back into the soil by rotting quietly?

As they rot down they will take some nitrogen from the soil which will have
to be replaced by you. Eventually, the reverse will be the case but how
long 'eventually' is could be quite a long time! You could have someone in
to grind the stumps down but that doesn't sound a good idea if you've
already re-planted the area. I'd be inclined to just keep an eye out for
any apparent lack of nitrogen in your plants and feed accordingly. And as
one who had the great satisfaction of taking down several of those monsters,
I congratulate you AND I enter into your joyous reaction!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)