Just had a guy round to shorten my Leylandii. Did a good job. He
suggested I pay him another £20 to spray a sealant on that will
restrict the growth. I paid him to do it even though I have never heard
of this.

Has anyone else had any experience of this product?

The message . com
from "Merryterry" contains these words:

Just had a guy round to shorten my Leylandii. Did a good job. He
suggested I pay him another £20 to spray a sealant on that will
restrict the growth. I paid him to do it even though I have never heard
of this.

Has anyone else had any experience of this product?

Sounds like snake oil to me. The cut tops/branches will not grow any
more - most conifers only grow from the green bits.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Merryterry" wrote in
ups.com:

Just had a guy round to shorten my Leylandii. Did a good job. He
suggested I pay him another £20 to spray a sealant on that will
restrict the growth. I paid him to do it even though I have never heard
of this.

Has anyone else had any experience of this product?


It couldn't be that he meant to seal the tops of the cut trunks to stop
them rotting? A neighbour had a leylandii hedge topped a couple years
back, and what with dieback afterwards he has ended up with some very
scruffy looking trees and rather a lot of fungus...

Mind you it is very wet here.

--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message . com
from "Merryterry" contains these words:

Just had a guy round to shorten my Leylandii. Did a good job. He
suggested I pay him another £20 to spray a sealant on that will
restrict the growth. I paid him to do it even though I have never heard
of this.

Has anyone else had any experience of this product?

Sounds like snake oil to me. The cut tops/branches will not grow any
more - most conifers only grow from the green bits.


seeing as Cat(h) reminded me, this is an ancient post I once posted to a
different newsgroup with advice on how to
ehhhh rejuvenate leylandii hedging:

Uncle Desmond's Gardening Tips #1:

How to revive a listless evergreen Hedge.

Have you planted a "Leylandii" hedge in expectation of leafy tranquility,
soothing shade and protection from climatic extremes? If so, you have
joined
the ranks of thousands of others up and down the country and belong to a
happy
club of thrusting go gettem gardeners who spurn fashion tastes and sneer
at so called good taste and warnings about damage to the environment.
Do not let the snobs from Dublin 4 or the faceless unelected protestants
in An Tasice order you around and tell you what you can or cannot plant in
your own hedge. Ireland will never be free until every man, woman and
child can plant whatever the hell they like whereever they like and to hell
with the begrudgers.


Now, after all the early excitement, you may have grown a bit disapointed
with your wonderful new creation. You may have noticed it looking a bit
threadbare lower down as the little plants stretch out and grow to
10 metres and block out all thos harmful rays from getting to your garden.


You may also find it hard work, keeping the plants looking neat and tidy
and may notice weals and boils as the branches rub against your skin
as you try to keep them in check.


Well do not worry, this is all normal and here are the top 3 surefire tips


to rejuvenate everything.


1) remember that leylandii naturally grown in Sub-saharan African scrub
and the Australian suburbs of Sydney. As such, they NEED regular burning
in order to thrive. In Ireland, we mistakenly hose them down with water
if they catch fire. THIS IS A MISTAKE. They thrive on fire.
Burn them down NOW. Use petrol, oily rags, car tyres, etc. and torch
them immediately. Almost instantly you will notice an improvement.

2) Leylandii need HEAVY mulching. They are very shallow rooters and if you
do not mulch heavily, they might blow over. Use any available heavy
loose material and spread it around to a depth of say 1-2 metres. Useful
possibilities are contents of skips from building sites, rubble, hospital
waste and of course concrete.

3) Leylandii LOVE pruning; the heavier the better. You have to be cruel
to be kind. The more you cut them the better they look. If you do not
know where to begin, just cut them to about 3 inches above the ground.
Within a few weeks , they will fully recover and look better than ever.


--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

Sounds like a rip off to me. As rusty said, a conifer will only grow from green.

Don't know name of the product but you do get plant growth retardants/inhibitors.
Haven't heard of any being used on conifers. (but i'm no expert)I'm a horticulture student and have done some stuff on growth regulators/retardants.
They are mainly used on chrysants, poinsettias & lillies.

There is a hedge growth retardant called Dikegulac. You could maybe do some research on internet. I'm no expert, but you could find out by emailing some specialist conifer nurseries.