Conifer Questions
 

Hello Folks, I'm in the W.Midlands, a bit of a gardening newbie,
and haven't had my house very long.

In my north facing, front garden boundary, I've got a row of six
plants;
a rhododendron-type thing,
a leylandii-type conifer,
a dark yew-type (multi-stemmed) conifer,
a spindley shrub,
a second leylandii-type conifer,
and a second yew-type conifer.

They were all very tall, when I bought the place, and I've had
them all topped, down to a height of about 10 ft.

I've noticed that, on my neighbour's side (the sunny side),
the leylandii are dead, to a height of about 6 ft - which isn't very
pretty. (I don't suspect any malice.)

So, my question's are; what's caused this, and can I do anything
to improve things?

Possible causes are;
roots cut (for cable tv) - would've affected all plants.
weedkiller - would've affected all plants.
....?

Can I stimulate new growth by removing the dead twigs, or would I
then just have bare trunks?


--
Sleepalot aa #1385

Conifer Questions
 

Sleepalot wrote:
Hello Folks, I'm in the W.Midlands, a bit of a gardening newbie,
and haven't had my house very long.

In my north facing, front garden boundary, I've got a row of six
plants;
a rhododendron-type thing,
a leylandii-type conifer,
a dark yew-type (multi-stemmed) conifer,
a spindley shrub,
a second leylandii-type conifer,
and a second yew-type conifer.

They were all very tall, when I bought the place, and I've had
them all topped, down to a height of about 10 ft.

I've noticed that, on my neighbour's side (the sunny side),
the leylandii are dead, to a height of about 6 ft - which isn't very
pretty. (I don't suspect any malice.)

So, my question's are; what's caused this, and can I do anything
to improve things?

Possible causes are;
roots cut (for cable tv) - would've affected all plants.
weedkiller - would've affected all plants.
...?

Can I stimulate new growth by removing the dead twigs, or would I
then just have bare trunks?

My guess is that you'll just get bare trunks, Leylandii only grow at
the tips I think. They're very difficult to prune drastically without
getting dead/bare chunks.

--
Chris Green

Conifer Questions
 

Can I stimulate new growth by removing the dead twigs, or would I
then just have bare trunks?
My guess is that you'll just get bare trunks, Leylandii only grow at
the tips I think. They're very difficult to prune drastically without
getting dead/bare chunks.

The previous owner at our current gaff planted a Castlewellan Gold where a
gate post should have been. Now 20 feet tall, and spreading like mad,
blocking the drive.

But I've found that hacking off 3 or 4 inches in width every few weeks in
the Summer months seems to encourage it to 'green up' in the middle, so no
hideous bare chunks.

Regarding heights, I find that lopping the top leaders off makes leylandii
bush out rather than die. And one newer Castlewellan Gold (I'll never
learn) that I bought ages ago is still growing upwards despite being
heavily topped serveral years ago.

Leylandii are like dangerous dogs. They're OK if you keep them under
control.

Al.