In article ,
harry wrote:
On 17 July, 23:38, "Endulini" wrote:

I'm purchasing a house with 5 or 6 reasonable sized (I'd guess around 20
feet tall) leylandi trees at the back and not being a big fan I am quite
keen to get rid of them. How problematic is this likely to be and what sort
of ballpark damage to the the wallet is this likely to cause (I'm in the
East Midlands if it helps)? Any tips or advice for getting them out?

Twenty feet is nothing, borrow buy an electric chainsaw &, gone. Chop
up, sell logs. Burn twigs.

I very strongly disrecommend that. Even electric chainsaws are very
dangerous - one mistake, and you will be lucky if the surgeons can
reattach your hand, leg or whatever. I agree that 6 x 20' leylandii
is nothing, but what is needed is a 24" or 30" bowsaw and a grub-axe
(pr pick-mattock). Cut them down to 6', dig around their roots and
pull them out.

Any replacement will take years to grow. Why not cut them back? You
can be as savage as you like.

If you do that, they will not regrow properly, and will rot in a few
years (perhaps a decade or so). That's not a major problem, and a
reasonable approach is to leave them at (say) 6' and grow climbers
up them. You can combine that with planting things between them
to take over after the leylandii rot.

You're probably a bit dry for bamboo, but there are quite a lot of
trees and shrubs that will do. What height and width do you want?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.