Cost of dealing with Leylandii trees?

millie

We had 22 of them as a hedge in our rear garden, we put them in about 20 years ago they had been trimmed regularly and kepy at 6 foot high, but they were getting wider and eventually we were losing about 4 feet on both sides of the garden and nothing would grow in the soil around them. We decided to remove them ourselves, what a job that turned out to be we had to strip them down to the bare trunk and them excavate around the roots cutting through them with tree lopers, they do not go very deep but there are loads of them. when we thought we had cut enough we had to keep rocking the trunk from side to side until we got it out. Getting rid of them after was the biggest problem we came accross, we ended up hiring a huge trailer with high mesh sides, and persuaded the employees at the local tip to let us take them there. The problem being they did not allow trailers without a permit, and we did not live in that council district. Our council do not allow trailers at all. we had to do at least 6 trips with it. We still have little Leylandis coming up from the remaining pieces of root but we just pull them out.

Peartree

I had a row of about 8 leylandii at the end of my garden I wanted to get of. We cut them back to about 6 ft and took all the foliage off right back into the dead wood - conifers don't regenerate, like many other plants when you do this so you are left with the trunks. It wasn't difficult - just used ordinary loppers and a saw for the trunk. The only timeconsuming part is the several trips to the tip with the debris.

We then created a trellis out of the remaining trunk structure using branches and twine and grew a grape vine, roses and other climbers up it, creating a sort of arbour effect with a bench in front. Five years later the trunks are starting to degenerate a bit but I think it will keep going for a few years yet. It did make a nice feature and avoided the expense of digging out all those stumps and roots.

alanobrien

I had a quote to cut down and remove one from the front of the house.
It was about 25 feet tall and maybe 12 feet wide. The quote was £250 :eek:

Did it myself in the end.

BlondeHeadOn

Do they re-grow once you have chopped them down to ground level? We have a very large leylandii hedge which I want to have removed this year, the plan is to get the tree surgeons to raze them down to ground level (already have quotes for this) and then coat the sawn trunk tops (if you see what I mean) with something to stop them going nasty, and then build raised beds on top of where they were.

I thought once they were cut down they did not re-grow at all, so this would be okay, but if cute little leylandii are likely to pop up I might have to re-think!

BlondeHeadOn

PS
Quote from tree surgeons to raze to the ground a leylandii hedge 50 foot long and 5 foot wide (!) is £411.00, in case this is any use to anyone.

mrslovetocook

I like my leylandi. They hide the veg patch from the main garden, and create a wind break. We do ,however, trim top and sides every autumn and two or three times in the summer. We once cut a little too deeply into the side branches but they recovered in a couple of years and the green shoots returned.

73bugz

What you need to decide is whether or not you want to keep the trees or get rid off them all together. Many people have trees chopped down due to safety issues, to clear or open up a piece of land, to end the year on year cost of maintenance or because they have been persuaded by someone knocking on the front door that because they are in the area they can offer them a great deal and normally these door knockers persuade them into doing it.

I've been looking after trees in the West for 4 years now and in that time we have only removed about 20 trees completely due to either land needing to be cleared for building purposes or down to trees becoming unstable and potentially causing damage to property.

You could have you trees reduced in height and also reduced in width so that way you still have a good screen and any wildlife living in the trees still have a home.

Year on year cost can be quite high though, shaping your trees every couple of years could cost you anything from £200 to £1000 depending on the size of the trees. Also the removal of waste and access to your property all need to be taken into consideration for working out the total cost. Also tree removal isn't cheap, there is specialist equipment needed, lifting gear, teams of tree surgeons, the possibility of needing roads closed etc, etc. Four large Leylandi trees could well set you back in the regions of thouands of pounds.

Whatever you decide to do, the advice i would give is get somebody who is recommended by either the local council or perhaps by a local garden centre. If they are a reputable trades person then they should visit you to discuss what needs to be done and offer you a quote. Be vary weary of somebody who comes and offers to carry out the removal of the trees there and then. Make sure that YOU phone the council and speak to the tree department and ask them if the trees are protected by a preservation order or if they are in what is deemed to be a conservation area. Don't just take somebody's word for it that they have done it.

Oh and one last thing, the amount of trees in our world is declining at an alarming rate, think long and hard before removing the trees, they take along time to grow and lots of animals rely on them to survive. If you do have them removed, consider replacing them with something a little more lower maintenance.

Cheers and all the best.

yaya903

73bugz wrote: »

What you need to decide is whether or not you want to keep the trees or get rid off them all together. Many people have trees chopped down due to safety issues, to clear or open up a piece of land, to end the year on year cost of maintenance or because they have been persuaded by someone knocking on the front door that because they are in the area they can offer them a great deal and normally these door knockers persuade them into doing it.

I've been looking after trees in the West for 4 years now and in that time we have only removed about 20 trees completely due to either land needing to be cleared for building purposes or down to trees becoming unstable and potentially causing damage to property.

You could have you trees reduced in height and also reduced in width so that way you still have a good screen and any wildlife living in the trees still have a home.

Year on year cost can be quite high though, shaping your trees every couple of years could cost you anything from £200 to £1000 depending on the size of the trees. Also the removal of waste and access to your property all need to be taken into consideration for working out the total cost. Also tree removal isn't cheap, there is specialist equipment needed, lifting gear, teams of tree surgeons, the possibility of needing roads closed etc, etc. Four large Leylandi trees could well set you back in the regions of thouands of pounds.

Whatever you decide to do, the advice i would give is get somebody who is recommended by either the local council or perhaps by a local garden centre. If they are a reputable trades person then they should visit you to discuss what needs to be done and offer you a quote. Be vary weary of somebody who comes and offers to carry out the removal of the trees there and then. Make sure that YOU phone the council and speak to the tree department and ask them if the trees are protected by a preservation order or if they are in what is deemed to be a conservation area. Don't just take somebody's word for it that they have done it.

Oh and one last thing, the amount of trees in our world is declining at an alarming rate, think long and hard before removing the trees, they take along time to grow and lots of animals rely on them to survive. If you do have them removed, consider replacing them with something a little more lower maintenance.

Cheers and all the best.

Your having a laugh, they take a long time to grow, definately the opposite, my neighbour has these trees and believe my they grow like wildfire, 5 years ago they were approx 6 feet, not they are not far off 20 feet. If anyone has any ideas how to encourage neighbours who are not into maintaining these (in Scotland - apparently our laws are different - as usual) to get rid or cut them down, then please help. I have contacted local counsellor but am not holding my breath - seem as much use as the politicians that run our economy....
Many thanks for any info....

jez211

Well you lucky people.....I have been trying to grow all sorts of hedges here in the hebrides without success..the wind just kills everything....I am going to try one more thing.....Leylandii "2001". Now if they take and i have the same problem you all have of overgrowth i will be delighted...Just a thing on overgrowing Leylandii..i used to cut my sisters over growing Leylandii in Inverness it was massive but a saw,ladder,trailer and a weekend sorted it..it is organic and biodegradable thus the local council had no issues with taking the cuts.........you could all take your cut Leylandii up here to the hebrides and dump it where you wish......all trees gratefully received.:beer:

ALIBOBSY

We have a row of these grown as a hedge and OH (who luckily is 6 ft 4 cuts and shapes them once a year (with an occasional second trim later in the year if required).
They work well as a hedge and as long as you keep on top of them are fairly easy to maintain, trouble is they can so easily get out of hand.

ali x