Killing trees( overgrown Leyland Cyprus) by ringing the bark.

Joe1919

Hi All.

I have a very badly out of control Leyland Cyprus hedge that has suffered 7 years of neglect and is now up to 30 foot tall, up to 12 inches on the butt and is growing rapidly, with over 100 trees.

I have felled some of them where there is room and this has been tricky and slow , as they are very crooked and forked and they grow into one another.
The problem is that many of these are close to buildings and some are leaning over toward buildings.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, I was going to 'ring the bark' ( removing a section of bark 360 degrees around tree) on some of these troublesome trees in order to kill them and prevent further growth and this would allow me more time in the future to deal with them. It would also have the advantage in making the logs ready for immediate burning as they would be dry, when they are cut in the future.

Is this a good idea? I notice that there is one or two dead trees already and these are much lighter and easier to handle, although the wood is dryer and harder and more difficult to cut.

Is there a down side to this ? (Killing trees by ringing the bark). Appearence would not be a major issue for a year or two.

pakalasa

If you kill off the trees, these evergreen types become very dry. They might be dangerous near buildings. Especially if we get very dry weather.....:D:D......could go up in flames like a tinderbox.

The_Conductor

Big downside- when it comes to felling the trees- its a lot more difficult a. to cut them and b. to guide them down to a particular place.

Leaving trees like this does open the possibility of introducing fungal disease to nearby trees- and this is the reason they will almost always paint the stump in bluestone once they've felled them (modern chainsaws have other measures built-in).

There is always the possible trouble of arson from standing deadwood (or indeed accidental fire). I wouldn't suggest it would be a particular hazard- just something to consider.

Personally- I'd cut it down- simply because I'm not fond of the odour of decaying cypress- thats a personal dislike on my part.

Who is to say you wouldn't get epicormic branching were you to ring the trees?

To be honest the more I think of it- the less I can see in favour of ringing the trees and leaving them standing......

Oldtree

Not a good idea for a number of reasons:

Should you ring bark them, You leave a standing liability behind you that should something happen to person of property you would be liable, and I doubt that the home insurance would cover that one.

If the trees were ajudged to be dangerous by an suitably qualified arborist and needed to be taken down immediatly then your house insurance may cover the cost.

how long did you intend to leave them standing before you would fell them? There is the possibility that they could rot at any number of points and fall over, again liability.

The fact that you have removed some for a row (i would guess) may also open up the can of worms that is windthrow to the remaining as they may have functioned as a single crown, again your liability.

Careful now.

Leyland can be used as posts and have proved to be waterproof. The wood burns only ok, akin to peat, imo.
Leyland dosn't really grow well from the old wood.

Joe1919

Thanks for your replies. I intend eventually to remove all the trees. Its a tedious job and the place gets very cluttered up with branches.
My intention is to ring bark some of the more troublesome (about 8 out of the 100) trees in order to stop them from growing further as they are very close and leaning over a building with a very brittle tiled roof. One tree, in particular is leaning at about 20 degrees from verticle but it not too big. (20 foot X 8 inches)
My concern is to prevent further growth but also to possibly make tree lighter and easier to handle. These trees seem to loose nearly half or two thirds of their weight when dry but I'm not sure how long this takes.
However, if thing are too risky or troublesome, I will get help.

The_Conductor

Joe1919 wrote: »

These trees seem to loose nearly half or two thirds of their weight when dry but I'm not sure how long this takes.

Without mechanical assistance- airdrying of properly stored timber can take 2-3 years, and while I simply can't find a comparative for standing timber- I'd guess it would be at least double this.