Removing a leylandii hedge

[BillyWillySilly]

I have around 45m of 15' leylandii hedge. I have tried trimming them back but the previous owners let them get too big and we have brown patches randomly along the hedge. We've decided instead to remove them as we cannot get them to a manageable size and replace with fencing.

One quote was £1500 to remove them (plus a concrete post) so I am considering just doing it myself. I have tried and failed miserably to cut one into smaller pieces and dispose of with garden waste so now my plan is to hire a reasonably long van and cut them down to the stump and drive them to the tip. Might take a few trips!

The trees are growing in a narrowish bed at the top of a stone wall. This wall is around 6 feet on the neighbours side (they're like 20 feet tall his side!) and I'm concerned that the roots are damaging that wall. So I am not going to try to remove them but would like to kill the stumps and let them rot naturally. I've seen that you can use some products on Amazon and there are a few threads on here with suggestions.

Any suggestions to improve my plan?

 

[Munroast]

leylandii just seem to die when you cut them off at stump height - they're not like Sycamores.
I wouldn't waste money on chemicals unless I was sure they were trying to regrow

 

[Tigercubrider]

Check that the tip/dump will let you in.
Mine won't allow vans and the amount that you have sounds like commercial waste.

 

[BillyWillySilly]

Check that the tip/dump will let you in.
Mine won't allow vans and the amount that you have sounds like commercial waste.

I will - they are like fort knox but seem to be fine for local residents.

 

[lostinthelight]

As Munroist says, don't waste your money on chemicals , once greenery has been removed, if Leylandii , they will not regrow so everything will eventually rot away..can you post a picture of the row of trees to get an idea if the volume of waste?

 

[Mottie]

I had some over 15’ tall and I took all the branches off first so that they looked like totem poles and then cut them down into sections big enough to go in a small van for disposal. I made the last cut as near to the ground as possible, they never grew again and the stumps eventually rotted away.

 

[Notch7]

Leylandii don't shoot below the lowest growing point.

So if you cut them below the lowest branch, that's curtains for them.

They should ban leylandii from being sold, there so many better hedge options.

 

[BillyWillySilly]

As Munroist says, don't waste your money on chemicals , once greenery has been removed, if Leylandii , they will not regrow so everything will eventually rot away..can you post a picture of the row of trees to get an idea if the volume of waste?

Here you go:

 

[BillyWillySilly]

The last image shows the futility of keeping them. Just big brown blobs in the garden...

 

[sodthisforfun]

The last image shows the futility of keeping them. Just big brown blobs in the garden...

I understand you want to get on with the job, but may I suggest to wait another month if you can please? Birds love those trees to nest in and there's may be young birds in there or eggs if having a second brood with good weather this summer. Wild birds are protected by law and removing/cutting hedges should be done when the breeding season is over.

 

[Mottie]

Just chuck 'em in the chipping machine.

Only joking Sod!

 

[sodthisforfun]

EVIL MAN!!!

 

[Munroast]

I understand you want to get on with the job, but may I suggest to wait another month if you can please? Birds love those trees to nest in and there's may be young birds in there or eggs if having a second brood with good weather this summer. Wild birds are protected by law and removing/cutting hedges should be done when the breeding season is over.

not supposed to cut or flail hedges until 1st September - farmers round here often seem to start mid August, have already seen one out cutting (but think you are allowed to do field side f about to sow?) Have already seen folk out ploughing.

 

[Notch7]

the problem with leylandii is each year they are trimmed, in order to keep the hedge green you cant cant cut it back to last year point -so the hedge gets bigger every year.

down the other end of our street there is a 50 metre run of leylandii -its now 5 metres tall by over 3 metres wide -the house has just been sold so Im keeping my fingers crossed the new owners will be chopping it down.

 

[BillyWillySilly]

I understand you want to get on with the job, but may I suggest to wait another month if you can please? Birds love those trees to nest in and there's may be young birds in there or eggs if having a second brood with good weather this summer. Wild birds are protected by law and removing/cutting hedges should be done when the breeding season is over.

We did have a nest up until last month at one end but there's been no activity for several weeks.