Leylandii

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Doing my bit for the continued beautification of the Vendée, I am in

the process of removing the huge leylandii hedge that seperates our

garden from the neighbouring fields with a view to replacing it with a

mixed hedge that should be rather more agreeable to the local fauna

(NOTHING seems to live or nest in leylandii as far as I can see). The

length of this hedge and the size of the trees (a bit of ring counting

suggests an age of about 40 years, and they clear 8m in places) mean

that this is going to take several years. What I find somewhat

perplexing is that I have not yet come across anything that looks like

a leylandii sapling: should I be surprised at this or are these

abominations some kind of non-propagating hybrid?

[chris pp]

I think they are a hybrid and normally propagated by cuttings, may well be that they don't produce good seed. Conifers don't seed easily at the best of times unless the soil conditions are suitable, so if you "import" them into a habitat that they would not naturally grow in the chances are they wouldn't seed themselves.

Sounds like you've taken on a bit of a job.

Chris

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="chris pp"]

Sounds like you've taken on a bit of a job.

[/quote]

Oh yes, but the end result will be well worth it! It is difficult to

put into words how much I detest leylandii, so every one that hits the

deck occaisons a little whooping war dance. They are planeted so

closely that I cannot safely wield a chainsaw, so I have resorted to a

bow saw. Stupid thing is that amongst them (and somehow still alive)

there are a few nice plants: an ancient lime tree that hasn't been

pollarded in 15 years (ring counting again), a huge bay and a couple of

lilacs. I haven't actually counted how many there remain, but

"I shall not cease my arboreal fight,

"nor shall my saw shall sleep in my hand,

'til I have slaughtered each and every one

and planted something else instead"

(to the tune of "Jerusalem," with appologies to W.Blake, but I guy needs a song to sing at times like these).

[Viv]

Have you got a woodburner?  If so, just think of the happy revenge you can have on those bl**dy triffids!

[Deimos]

[quote user="viva"]

Have you got a woodburner? If so, just think of the happy revenge you can have on those bl**dy triffids!

[/quote]

Earlier this year I had to have a loads of Llandiii cut back as they were overhanging the road (a line of 40m of them) – at the DDE’s insistence. I was told they are very resinous and not ideal for woodburners. However, somebody else said to leave them for ages outside and they would be OK.

OK or not or leave to dry out for how long ?

I’ve got loads so any thoughts much appreciated.

Ian

[chris pp]

I don't think I will be shedding any tears for your deceased Leylandii.

If you have a reasonable bit of land you could do what I do, no dead wood is removed or burnt in my garden, it is made into heaps, stacks or whatever that are dotted around the field margins and in among the hedgerows where it simply allowed to decay, wonderful for wildlife of all sorts.

Chris

[powerdesal]

Jond,

How do you get the roots out ?

Our whole garden is surrounded with the b******s and we feel exactly the same as you about them.

We tried winching a root out and all that did was move the anchor vehicle sideways.

Regards

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I don't try to get the stumps out - they are incredibly tenacious, as you say. What I have

found is that they don't seem to try and grow back, even if stump

killer is not used. If I don't want the stump to show, I can excevate a

few inches of soil until I can safely use the chainsaw, cut them below

the surface of the ground and then recover with the soil. I'm trying to

create a sort of pre-Raphaelite hedge (don't laugh) with lots of

climbing roses, honeysuckle and clematis, as well as traditional

hedging and specimen trees, so I can use quite a lot of the stumps upto

about 2m high in this scheme.

I too have heard that leylandii cannot be burned in a wood burner due

to the high level of resins and turpenes and so forth as these produce

lots of goudron. The chap who cleans the chimney warned us in no uncertain terms not to do this. [Interesting word, goudron - it's one of only two French addopted words that I know of that come from Russian, the other being mazout.]

I've been burning them (with associated dancing and glee) on a bonfire,

which seems a terrible waste of wood. I shall start turning them into

logs with a view to long-term stacking (five years?): if nothing else,

as Chris says, they might provide some interesting holes for wildlife.

[Tresco]

Jond, your proposed hedge will be fantastic!

I remember a similar conversation about getting these trees out. Someone (perhaps Di/ Iceni) mentioned that if you leave the stumps in they are vulnerable to some sort of mould infection (honey-mould?).

I did what you are proposing to do (in a former garden), and it didn't happen to our trunks that were left as supports for the climbers, but perhaps you should keep an eye out for it.

Don't burn them in the log burner.

[PeterG]

There are no real problems to removing your Leylandii.

After you have given them a light pruning with SEMTEX......you should be able to hire a stump grinder. These machines are a cross between a rotivator and a plane. You stick the thing over the stump and it will grind it down to just below soil level.

You can then treat the exposed stump with root killer.