"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...

Chop them down to about 5 or 6 feet high. Saw off the remaining side
branches and you have
one instant row of fence posts! The trees will die off naturally. A few
may
attempt to put out the odd feeble side shoot from the trunk, but these are
easily
pulled off and beyond the first year they give up and die completely.
I used the "free fence posts" to attach some chain link fencing (to keep
our dogs
in) and planted some pyracanthus hedging between the stumps, which is
doing nicely
and gradually over-running the chain link and hiding it. By the time
stumps have
rotted naturally the hedge will be fully mature.

It would be interesting to see a picture of the result - I've got two
"leylandii" "hedges" that need constant trimming.

Peter.