Leyland Cypress Advice Needed

[Trees-]

Hey all,

 

I'm relatively new in the industry, and I have a job to do on a Leyland Cypress.

We want to take the tops out of a Leyland hedge, they are aprox. 30ft tall.

I was wondering what the maximum amount of the top I could take out, so they would still carry on growing normally without stress.

 

Cheers!

[sloth]

Best practice would say say a third (10 feet). Plus a tickle off the sides

[Rupe]

None really, they will never be normal again, they will regrow outward and upwards from the greenery you leave behind, and be bigger and wider than they are now in a few years.

 

Generally no more than a 30% off is recomended, but advise your client that unless they keep on top of them (annual maintenance) they will get worse and worse.

 

Fell and repplant with something sensible is always the best long term solution, but i know clients dont want long term, so jsut do as they want but ideally no more than 30%.

 

I recently asked for before and after pictures of hedge topping, so I can show a client how much density is lost (or appears lost) when the tops are gone.

 

If you can take before and after pics and post them I would be much obliged! Thanks.

[Trees-]

Cheers Sloth and Rupe,

 

+ Rupe, I will gladly do that for you.

 

The client ideally wants them to come down enough to let more light in, and enough left for privacy. So they suggested taking them down to about 10ft from ground level. Would that be too much to take out, as it doesn't leave much stored energy within the tree?

 

Thanks again

[slack ma girdle]

So long as there is some green left, Laylandii will regrow (probably)

There is one hedge in Pembrokeshire that was reduced from 30' to 6' .

It is still there, and 6 years on it almost looks like a hedge.

[Rupe]

I really wouldnt worry about stored energy! These are leylands!! (are you sure they are leylands??_)

 

The probem with going lower is it mean the the top of the greenery that is left is now even further away from the trunks, so the new growth going to make the trees even wider than it would if done at one third, and the trees will be wider than they are tall.

 

The reason for doing it at one third is that they could feasably then be maintened at that height, with quite a bit of work, but doing them at two thirds reduction is almost the beginning of the end, they will look crap and need replacing sooner.

 

If the customer wants them at 10foot then they should either have topped them at that height when they were 12foot, or they should replant with 6 footer and wait a year. Thats the best advice, but of course that never happens, explain how they will look and do waht the customer wants, but you wont kill them!!

[Trees-]

Thanks very much guys! The help is much appreciated!

[niftysteve]

None really, they will never be normal again, they will regrow outward and upwards from the greenery you leave behind, and be bigger and wider than they are now in a few years.

 

Generally no more than a 30% off is recomended, but advise your client that unless they keep on top of them (annual maintenance) they will get worse and worse.

 

Fell and repplant with something sensible is always the best long term solution, but i know clients dont want long term, so jsut do as they want but ideally no more than 30%.

 

I recently asked for before and after pictures of hedge topping, so I can show a client how much density is lost (or appears lost) when the tops are gone.

 

If you can take before and after pics and post them I would be much obliged! Thanks.

 

i posted an after for you onthat thread

[Rupe]

Ah, thanks, I missed that!

[David Goss]

Good advice Rupe:thumbup:

The lower you go on these trees the uglier the hedge will be and it becomes almost impossible to get a straight and flat top. 10 foot isn't really that tall so felling and replanting with smaller trees that can be maintained into a tight slim and dare I say it, a good looking hedge if maintained properly would be the best option. Plus the owners would gain a fair chunk of their garden back in the process.