| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| john of wessex |
LeylandiiAt the bottom of my garden is, in effect a very overgrown leylandii or leylandii type hedge - some of the trees are now about 25 feet high.While I have various issues over it, what does concern me is that a number of the trees have only very limited leaf cover, mostly towards the top. Should I be concerned about the health of these trees? |
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| Bluedog |
How do you mean?
Is it dying back? |
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| oldish chris |
Its the way they grow. Any branch that doesn't get enough light to earn its keep will be made redundant.
Leylandii do not regenerate from brown wood. 25ft is very short. They have a lot of growing to do. If they are healthy (and they probably are) then I would be very concerned. |
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| colour it green |
are they your trees? if so.. cut em down....
our neighbours have some.. they are about 80=-90 ft tall. every now and then on falls onto our land. .... |
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| robin wood |
As said above, if you try to top them or reduce them in any way they will just look dead and brown and not regenerate in the way that a hardwood tree does, so you have to decide do you want a row of 100 foot trees there? They are now just getting well established and probably going at about 18" a year. Tree surgeons, love them, they will never go out of business so long as people keep planting leylandii. | ||||||
| JB |
All firs can regenerate from brown wood but are reluctant to do so. Cut them back and if they don't regenerate then replace them with something real and slower growing. |
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| Treacodactyl |
It does sound like the bottom branches are simply dying off naturally as the plants have been left to grow into trees rather than trimmed to keep them as a hedge.
If it's not that there has been some diseases that have started killing them off, this might be worth a look: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0301/cypress_aphid.asp |
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| john of wessex |
They arent my trees - thats the problem............
And the 'anti hedge' legislation doesnt seem to apply to them 
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| Bluedog |
If you want Lleylandii to remain tight and uniform you have to keep them well topped out, and cutting them back to each years green growth will help with that. | ||||||
| Hairyloon |
Leylandii are a hybrid created in the 60s.
Both parent species are capable of hitting 150'. The oldest Leylandii are less than 50 years old, so nobody knows for certain how tall they can get... They do make great hedges provided that you keep them trimmed regularly (2-3 times per year minimum). |
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| snozzer |
Leylandii like any hedge have to have the correct shape to stop the thinning bottom problem. The shape you need is a pyramid i.e. wider at the base than the top, if you keep leylandii trimmed to this shape and take the tops of they make excellent hedges, a real haven for nesting birds and a warm roost in the winter. The problem is when people let them get out of hand.
I have seen really tall ones regenerated by cutting down to 6-8ft tall, the trick is to add a good fertilizer around the roots about now and then top them off at the desired height. As the spring comes and the sap rises with warmer temperatures and longer days they can often regenerate. However, they also may never recover and you end up with a row of posts... |
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| shaunb |
Kill the leylandii by poisoning them, use a glyphosate product. | ||||||
| john of wessex |
Anyone got any live Cypress Aphid I can have?? | ||||||
| Hairyloon |
Actually that's not true. They were actually discovered in the late 19th Century.
That bit is true. The tallest known specimines are in Kew and still growing at 130' |
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| Simon |
Are you arguing with yourself? 
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| Hairyloon |
No. I discovered that I had been spreading inaccurate information and I wanted to correct it. |