Cutting Leylandi trees10m high

kildarejohn

In discussion with a neighbour about cutting Leylandi conifers. These are 30-40 years old and c. 10m high. Want to do for minimum cost possible, and investigating whether we could use an agricultural hedgecutting contractor with a circular saw on a hydraulic arm rather than use a tree surgeon. Main issue is that hydraulic arm probably wont go higher than 3 - 4m. If you cut a 10m tree at 3.5m height will this kill it or will it keep growing?

Apiarist

If you cut a 10m tree at 3.5m height will this kill it or will it keep growing?

It will keep growing.

looksee

If you just top it it will look strange but it will keep growing. If you take anything (remove the green, which is not a lot) off the sides you will end up with dead sticks.

elperello

Would you consider felling them, clearing the site and planting something else ?

standardg60

A bare Leylandii trunk won't regrow when cut to any height OP if that's what you want to know.

Exiled1

Having spent the past 36 years trying to control 150m of Leylandii hedge and keeping it down to 10ft height, I have one suggestion.... cut it down and sow something else. Leylandiis have no merits whatsoever. If you want shelter, there are lots of very nice alternatives, visually pleasant and manageable.

Back in the early 80s planting a leylandii hedge was a condition of planning permission in sone instances.... lunacy.

The Continental Op

A saw on a hydraulic arm won't be that useful. You have a substantial amount of material to get out and off the hedge once its cut some of which will end up in the way of the saw and a lot will tear off taking bark off the remaining trunks. Whats left won't look pretty.

Squatman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093011#Comment_120093011

yes, cannot recommend this highly enough, will probably be cheaper than cutting it at 10m

kildarejohn

thanks Continental for

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093127#Comment_120093127

I appreciate there will be quite a lot of manual clean up to be done after a saw, but this is easy work we can do our selves over time and doesnt involve climbing ladders with chain saws. I reckon getting a tree surgeon to do it properly would be €5000 versus €500 for the saw on a tractor man.

T-Maxx

Would you hire a cherry picker and diy with a chainsaw?

kildarejohn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093565#Comment_120093565

Would consider. Still a tricky enough job and dangerous for inexperienced guys. I think we would need to use ropes to ensure trees fell in right direction. Would have to wait for dryer weather since the ground is too soft at the moment for cherry picker to be stable.

Wanderer78

if i had access to agricultural equipment, id be going down that road, take the fcukers out, awful trees, terrible for the ground, dig up the roots if possible also, a lot of waste though.....

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093628#Comment_120093628

How wide are they are the base Vs at 3.5M?

Based on any I have seen , you will be miles away from them on a cherry picker.

The only effective way I have seen to control the height of them is to grown ivy on top of what you have cut.

We discovered this in my parents house when we took about 2M off the top of ours (which were kept as a solid hedge since day 1) and some ivy appeared.

Now they are 2.5M tall with an ivy cap on, all we do is trim the back/front like any normal hedge, you might get the occasional suckler who pops its head above the ivy, but nothing like we used to have where you would take 1M off every year.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093687#Comment_120093687

jaysus, maybe i should stop spraying ours so.....

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093697#Comment_120093697

FWIW I detest ivy, but in this instance it ignores the rest of the tree and happily sits on top. The hedge is about 5M long and a single ivy that sprouted itself at one end has done the job. Again you might get an occasional fella who pops his head out within the hedge, but if you redirect rather than prune it will just stay on top since thats where the sunlight is. This canopy stops the pesky leylandii from even trying to grow really.

Also OP, bear in mind that you are taking 6.5M off, thats a couple of trees in itself, so the trunk at the bottom is going to be very wide and very heavy. I wouldnt fancy trying to take that off in a single cut, you are basically felling a large tree!

JoChervil

Is it true that cutting a line in a bark around the tree will kill it in time?

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093718#Comment_120093718

leylandiis are nuclear proof trees, i suspect injecting uranium probably wouldnt kill the fcukers!

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093718#Comment_120093718

It would kill it beyond where you ringed it, but it would might still sprout below that area, depending on how much sunlight it got.

Leylandii should be pretty susceptible to ringing near the base, since the inside of them is dead anyway due to lack of sinlight.

However, I would be very wary of killing a 10M tree, who knows when and were it would come down.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093902#Comment_120093902

...oh i had a thick as fcuk uncle make a claim, if he injected diesel into one, it be grand, until i explained, when it falls, it wont give a flying fcuk whats in the way, including my grandmothers(his mothers) house!