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#1
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Killing leylandii cypresses
I have had the most life affirming experience of getting a tree surgeon
to cut down a line of leylandii cypresses on the boundary between my garden and my neighbour's - to the intense satisfaction of all concerned. I have now planted the "hedge" with a variety of flowering shrubs, including fuschias, flowering rubus and a couple of roses. The leylandii stumps have been cut to ground level, except one of which only the upright trunk remains, which I am using as a climbing pole for a climber or two. Do I need to treat the stumps - including the trunk - to kill them and avoid re-growth? Also, the root network of those nasty creatures is making it relatively difficult to dig and plant anything there. I there any type of product that, painted on the cut section of the remaining stumps, would kill the roots (a little like round up does for more conventional weeds?). Thanks for any assistance! Cat(h) The world swirls... |
#2
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In article . com, "Cat(h)" writes: | I have had the most life affirming experience of getting a tree surgeon | to cut down a line of leylandii cypresses on the boundary between my | garden and my neighbour's - to the intense satisfaction of all | concerned. I have now planted the "hedge" with a variety of flowering | shrubs, including fuschias, flowering rubus and a couple of roses. That sounds good! | Do I need to treat the stumps - including the trunk - to kill them and | avoid re-growth? No. They are conifers and only a couple of species of those will regrow, and leylandii is not one. | Also, the root network of those nasty creatures is | making it relatively difficult to dig and plant anything there. I | there any type of product that, painted on the cut section of the | remaining stumps, would kill the roots (a little like round up does for | more conventional weeds?). Realistically, no. They are effectively already dead, but the actual removal will be done by fungi over the next few years. There are products that are said to speed that up, but doing nothing is quite effective. You can dig holes by using a heavy spade, grub-axe, trowel and hatchet, but there is no quick answer short of heavy machinery. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#3
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Nick Maclaren wrote: In article . com, "Cat(h)" writes: | I have had the most life affirming experience of getting a tree surgeon | to cut down a line of leylandii cypresses on the boundary between my | garden and my neighbour's - to the intense satisfaction of all | concerned. I have now planted the "hedge" with a variety of flowering | shrubs, including fuschias, flowering rubus and a couple of roses. That sounds good! I hope it will look as good as it sounds in a few years' time. I also hope that the W of Ireland fuschia cuttings, grown very successfully in pots for the last year in situ, will do well in the open ground, in a slightly harsher climate than they are used to (E Midlands of Ireland). | Do I need to treat the stumps - including the trunk - to kill them and | avoid re-growth? No. They are conifers and only a couple of species of those will regrow, and leylandii is not one. Now, this is good news!! | Also, the root network of those nasty creatures is | making it relatively difficult to dig and plant anything there. I | there any type of product that, painted on the cut section of the | remaining stumps, would kill the roots (a little like round up does for | more conventional weeds?). Realistically, no. They are effectively already dead, but the actual removal will be done by fungi over the next few years. There are products that are said to speed that up, but doing nothing is quite effective. More excellent news. You can dig holes by using a heavy spade, grub-axe, trowel and hatchet, but there is no quick answer short of heavy machinery. I have managed to find sufficient pockets of loose soil to fit all my well rooted cuttings, so the problem has not been too great so far, and no JCB has been required :-) I might have some greater difficulty planting my climbers, though... Thank you very much for your informed advice. Cat(h) The world swirls... |
#4
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"Cat(h)" wrote in message ups.com... Nick Maclaren wrote: In article . com, "Cat(h)" writes: | I have had the most life affirming experience of getting a tree surgeon | to cut down a line of leylandii cypresses on the boundary between my | garden and my neighbour's - to the intense satisfaction of all | concerned. I have now planted the "hedge" with a variety of flowering | shrubs, including fuschias, flowering rubus and a couple of roses. That sounds good! I hope it will look as good as it sounds in a few years' time. I also hope that the W of Ireland fuschia cuttings, grown very successfully in pots for the last year in situ, will do well in the open ground, in a slightly harsher climate than they are used to (E Midlands of Ireland). | Do I need to treat the stumps - including the trunk - to kill them and | avoid re-growth? No. They are conifers and only a couple of species of those will regrow, and leylandii is not one. Now, this is good news!! | Also, the root network of those nasty creatures is | making it relatively difficult to dig and plant anything there. I | there any type of product that, painted on the cut section of the | remaining stumps, would kill the roots (a little like round up does for | more conventional weeds?). Realistically, no. They are effectively already dead, but the actual removal will be done by fungi over the next few years. There are products that are said to speed that up, but doing nothing is quite effective. More excellent news. You can dig holes by using a heavy spade, grub-axe, trowel and hatchet, but there is no quick answer short of heavy machinery. I have managed to find sufficient pockets of loose soil to fit all my well rooted cuttings, so the problem has not been too great so far, and no JCB has been required :-) I might have some greater difficulty planting my climbers, though... Thank you very much for your informed advice. Cat(h) The world swirls... 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 |
#5
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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. However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#6
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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. Although some people swear by stump grinders which I presume can take out tree stumps left in this condition. However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. I'd be inclined to drill a few big holes in it and load them with ammonium sulphamate (tradename Rootout). It will make sure it doesn't come back and encourage the fungi to get going by providing some extra nitrogen. Once the rots have weakened it a bit you can dig them out. Regards, Martin Brown |
#7
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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? However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. That's the intention. Cat(h) The world swirls... |
#8
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In article .com, "Cat(h)" writes: | | 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? Precisely so. On both points. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#10
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The message .com
from "Cat(h)" contains these words: 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. I wasn't suggesting the tree surgeon(s) weren't worth their salt, just that they ought to have suggested it. Since they did, fill marks to them. 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? Well, some, but not a lot. Tou may acquire some interesting (and delicious) mushrooms, though. However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. That's the intention. Excellent. If you can bear the sight of it, you can pile cardboard, grass mowings, manure, kitchen scraps (but not meat, it attracts the rats), straw, paper etc to knee-height, water it well (with added urine) then cover it with black plastic, peg the plastic down and leave it until spring. In the meantime, your friends the worms will get to work, and you'll find a fine tilth of well-structured soil when you uncover it. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#11
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Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. That's the intention. Excellent. If you can bear the sight of it, you can pile cardboard, grass mowings, manure, kitchen scraps (but not meat, it attracts the rats), straw, paper etc to knee-height, water it well (with added urine) then cover it with black plastic, peg the plastic down and leave it until spring. In the meantime, your friends the worms will get to work, and you'll find a fine tilth of well-structured soil when you uncover it. It'll take a long time in my experience to rot Leylandii, it's more resitant than most to rotting (which is an advantage if you use the timber outside). We have cut down quite a number of large (up to 18" diameter and 50ft high) Leylandii and also had some Aspen trees felled for us. The aspens rot away in a year or so, none of the Leylandii show any sign of rotting yet. -- Chris Green |
#12
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The message
from contains these words: Jaques d'Alltrades wrote: However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. That's the intention. Excellent. If you can bear the sight of it, you can pile cardboard, grass mowings, manure, kitchen scraps (but not meat, it attracts the rats), straw, paper etc to knee-height, water it well (with added urine) then cover it with black plastic, peg the plastic down and leave it until spring. In the meantime, your friends the worms will get to work, and you'll find a fine tilth of well-structured soil when you uncover it. It'll take a long time in my experience to rot Leylandii, it's more resitant than most to rotting (which is an advantage if you use the timber outside). That wasn't the intention - it was just to save trying to dig compost in through the network of roots. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#13
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On 18 Aug 2005 03:39:41 -0700, "Cat(h)" wrote:
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? I was going to add " rotting quietly,,,, but very slowly" ! But I see others have suggested that already. I don't know where they stand in the conifer world in relation to Larch ( I'm thinking resin content) so I don't want to worry you unduly, but about 28 years ago we took down some dead and dying larch and the stumps are still there ! In fact so are some of the logs and trunks that were left where they fell ! Others that were stacked still keep us warm in the winters To add to the suggestions already given about mulching, I wonder if you could make a 'raised bed' type system to enclose them and keep mulch/compost over them ? Keep it deep and moist and that should speed things up. You could maybe even grow beans in the bed to share with your neighbour :-)) |
#14
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Jaques d'Alltrades wrote: The message .com from "Cat(h)" contains these words: 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. I wasn't suggesting the tree surgeon(s) weren't worth their salt, just that they ought to have suggested it. Since they did, fill marks to them. 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? Well, some, but not a lot. Tou may acquire some interesting (and delicious) mushrooms, though. More good news about the consequences of killing Leylandii! There's definitely *no* downsides! However, what's done is done. Compost or well-rotted manure can be spread as a mulch and the worms will soon take it down into the topsoil. That's the intention. Excellent. If you can bear the sight of it, you can pile cardboard, grass mowings, manure, kitchen scraps (but not meat, it attracts the rats), straw, paper etc to knee-height, water it well (with added urine) then cover it with black plastic, peg the plastic down and leave it until spring. Sounds like an interesting in-situ compost heap... Unfortunately, I have already replanted most of the area - you should have seen how impatient I was for the tree man to get out of the way, getting very conscious that my potted fuschias needed an opportunity before winter to get established! I will mulch around the plants this winter, though. In the meantime, your friends the worms will get to work, and you'll find a fine tilth of well-structured soil when you uncover it. I take note for another area. It sounds like a good tip. Thanking you and all for your advice! Cat(h) The world swirls... -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#15
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WaltA wrote: On 18 Aug 2005 03:39:41 -0700, "Cat(h)" wrote: 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? I was going to add " rotting quietly,,,, but very slowly" ! But I see others have suggested that already. I don't know where they stand in the conifer world in relation to Larch ( I'm thinking resin content) so I don't want to worry you unduly, but about 28 years ago we took down some dead and dying larch and the stumps are still there ! In fact so are some of the logs and trunks that were left where they fell ! Others that were stacked still keep us warm in the winters To add to the suggestions already given about mulching, I wonder if you could make a 'raised bed' type system to enclose them and keep mulch/compost over them ? Keep it deep and moist and that should speed things up. Actually, the soil isn't that bad there, believe it or not. The main sin from the dreaded leylandii, was just how dry they were keeping it. And now, how tricky it is to plant between their roots. I have mostly managed to get the plants I wanted planted where I wanted them. I may need a little more force to plant two climbers, though I think I should wait till next spring, as it is getting a little late.. or is it? Meanwhile, I plan to mulch the whole bed in late winter/early spring with some well rotted manure from a local farm. You could maybe even grow beans in the bed to share with your neighbour :-)) The neigbour's veg patch puts mine to serious shame... they'd probably smirk at my feeble attempt :-) Plus, I have bother keeping up with my own crop... whatever possessed me to plant veg I am the only one to like? Thank goodness for the freezer :-) Cat(h) The world swirls... |
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