Hello,

Appologies if this is an all too familiar query, but I couldn't find an FAQ
for the group...

I moved into a new house just before christmas, and at the bottom of the
garden is a 30ft leylandii. I've no problem with the tree itself (I quite
like it actually - it's a nice counter-point to a *massive* leylandii hedge
which shelters my house from a railway line), but it's so big that I'm
worried that if I don't deal with it now, it'll be too big for me to manage
in 6 - 12 months (and I'd hate to have to pay someone to do it if I can do
it now myself).

I want to cut it to about half of its current height, and then maintain it
at that height - my questions a is it likely to survive, is there a
better course of action, is there a particular reason why doing so is a bad
idea?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

The message
from "Glen Able" contains these words:

Once you cut into old wood on leylandii they don't sprout back and look
very
ragged. We advised a neighbour of ours not to do this, she thought she
knew
better and she's now left with trunks sticking out of the top of lower
growing foliage looking simply awful.

Yes, down my street there's a 12' leylandii hedge on the boundary between 2
front gardens. On the owner's side they've maintained it well and it looks
quite handsome. The other side has been cut back almost to the trunk and is
a horrible wall of brown with not even a hint of green showing.

I have a leylandii hedge which has been truncated at some time, and the
lower branches have grown up so the cut tops of the trunks are two feet
below the top of the hedge now.

It is not unsightly.

If you want to jolly-up a conifer, grow wisteria up the trunk. When it
becomes established it makes a really spectacular tree on flowering.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On 4/26/04 8:36 AM, in article ,
"Robert E A Harvey" wrote:

Matt Barton wrote:
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

Cut it off 3-4' above the ground, remove the stump and plant a
more suitable tree :-)

LOL! You're not suggesting anything I haven't already considered. Not
sure where/how I'd dispose of 30ft of tree though. I've only got a
Renault Clio, and I'm buggered if it'll fit on the roof....

Well, we gat about 3 gypsies a week knocking on the door offering to deal
with our trees. If you wait until the autumn they'll bring it back and try
to sell it back to you as firewood...


Well God Bless Em... entrepreneurship at it's best!
Gary
Fort Langley BC
Canada

On 4/26/04 8:44 AM, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

Jane Ransom wrote in
news
LOL! You're not suggesting anything I haven't already considered. Not
sure where/how I'd dispose of 30ft of tree though. I've only got a
Renault Clio, and I'm buggered if it'll fit on the roof....

There must be dozens of people with wood burning stoves who would be
glad to take it off your hands!!!!!

I doubt it, if Matt lives in an ordinary modern suburb. I was in the same
boat when I lived in Cheshi all my neighbours had gas fires.

I could probably have found someone with a woodburner if I'd combed the
countryside round about long enough, but it was easier to pay someone to
come and take them away.

Victoria
Getting rid of firewood is a problem? I truly find that hard to believe.
Put a sign up at the end of your driveway...it takes...15 minutes. FREE
FIREWOOD...now you may not find a person who has a fireplace...you may find
an entrepreneur!!!

On 4/26/04 4:23 PM, in article ,
"Robert E A Harvey" wrote:

Nick Maclaren wrote:
Cut it off 3-4' above the ground, remove the stump and plant a
more suitable tree :-)

If you do decide to fell them, then my technique is to leave the trunks at
least 2m tall so you can lever the root out of the ground with them. Dig
round, and under, and then use the exposed length to rock them about to
break them loose of the soil. In bad cases I have run a chain from the top
of the stump to the car towing hitch, and loosened them like that. Try to
get all the roots out to avoid honey fungus.



Yes, I use the same technique but it is important not to dig round too
close to the tree. Give yourselves lots of elbow room once you have dug the
trench around the tree. Should you start too close to the tree you won't
have enough room to get 'under the root system'. Getting under 'the root
system' is the key.
Also, as Robert has said, a 2m tall stump allows for more
leverage...it's physics, you know.
What is honey fungus? Is it a bad thing to have? What does it do.
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

The message
from gary davis contains these words:

Getting rid of firewood is a problem? I truly find that hard to believe.
Put a sign up at the end of your driveway...it takes...15 minutes. FREE
FIREWOOD.

Burning wood in the fireplace is not permitted in many urban parts of
the UK, because of air pollution.
In areas where it is permitted, nobody with half a brain would
knowingly burn leylandii in the house. On an open fire, it spits sparks
into the room. In a woodstove, it tars up the chimney.

Janet.