I hate Leylandii with a vengeance. Spends most of the past two days cutting 3 feet off. The top of my neighbours hedge that was rapidly getting out of control. Always the same story: people
plant these things because they are cheap and they want a quick hedge. Twenty years later they've got too old to clip the thing and it's easy heading for the sky.
I hate cutting them them, the dust gets in my throat and they bring be out in a rash if they touch my bare skin.
With so many of our beautiful native trees threatened by disease why can't some plague remove these hideous gloomy hybrids from hell from our gardens.
Did I say I don't like Leylandii?
And don' tell me they can make a good hedge if regularly clipped. Nobody ever does.
I hate Leylandii.
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5 Star post CG...
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What I mean is 5 STAR and it's not diesel.......
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Why are you cutting your neighbours hedge?
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>> Why are you cutting your neighbours hedge?
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Because its shading my garden and my neighbour is getting on a bit and recovering from cancer so if I don't cut the wretched thing no one will and I will never see the sun again.
I hate Leylandii, all 100 feet of it.
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100 ft up is quite a trek, mind you they popular for a reason. Lots of people value their privacy and helps to keep the noise of road traffic out, so I understand.
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I've planted one just to annoy my neighbour. Though despite what the Daily Mail will have you believe it doesn't grow to house-eating size in just six months.
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Why do you want to annoy your neighbour? Surely never a good plan.
And why not choose something that is good to look at and won't eventually be a problem for yourself ?
The growth rate can be surprisingly fast. Once they get established after a couple of years they can easily grow two feet a year in good conditions
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You can buy them house-eating size, but yoos gotta fork out the spondulics for them.
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>> Why are you cutting your neighbours hedge?
I was wondering that too. I suppose he said ungraciously: 'Do it yourself.'
I daily thank providence that although we are buried in remote greenery, most of it is old good stuff and none of it is ghastly leylandii. Fowls and guinea fowls howling in daytime, owls howling at night.
Nothing to complain about at all. And moon and stars and stuff when you can see them.
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>> I hate Leylandii.
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Thirded. Had about 40 of the blighters cut down within a week of moving into Spamcan Towers.
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I give you a thumb for such a valiant attack on the enemy.
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>> I give you a thumb for such a valiant attack on the enemy.
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:-) To add insult to injury I reckon they'd cost me best part of a grand by the time I'd had 'em cut down, disposed of and the roots dug out.
I replaced them with a 5ft. high panel fence with decorative shrubs planted in front of it, next thing there's a council bloke at the door asking about planning permission for the fence, as somebody had complained about it. As it 'appens I had indeed gone through the ballache of submitting and had approved plans for the fence, you'd think the council would at least check their own records before wasting their time and my money driving halfway across The Forest to look at my fence.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 28 Aug 15 at 15:40
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My previous property was surrounded on all 4 sides by hedges of various types. I used to cut them myself with a Bosch cordless hedge trimmer, including the back hedge which was all Leylandii. It used to take me the best part of a day to do-it-all but, when I sold the gaff, I called in a pro who made short work of it with his Stihl on a long pole.
There were a couple of 40 year old 70ft Leylandii here when I came here, but I had them cut down to let some light in this cottage, which is dark enough anyway with it's small 'pain' windows, and low beamed -ceilings.
I quite like to see a mature conifer left to do it's own thing - as long as it doesn't affect the neighbs in any way.
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>> I quite like to see a mature conifer left to do it's own thing
Quite Perro, nothing as nice as a mature twisted Corsican Pine. But never, ever those damn po-faced leylandii things.
They need a new name. Badmouthing leylandii is making me feel uneasy and a bit guilty about a great and ancient British car marque.
Proper old Leylands were imposing, but I don't know how good they were. Leyland straight eight tourer looks tasty to me.
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I'll wager you've met one or two twisted Corsicans on your travels Sire ;-)
My 70ft Leylandii were mighty-fine specimens IMO, and they didn't impose on anyone. Criminal to cut them down really, as they were home to many species of feathered bipeds.
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I had a Biped once Sire. An NSU Quickly if I remember. O:-)
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>> I had a Biped once Sire. An NSU Quickly if I remember. O:-)
Old Peculiar tonight MD ;-)
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A mere tiddler at 70 feet. The tallest one in the country is 120 feet and still growing. The fact is that no one knows how tall they cat grow because they are a cross of two different species and the oldest are only about 110 years old.
As a specimen in parkland they can look impressive. As a suburban hedge they are the tree from hell.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 27 Aug 15 at 21:22
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I say 70ft, but it could have 140ft for all I know and, I live in a remote moorland area, so it's almost parkland :)
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I planted a leylandi hedge. Very good screen and sound insulator. However, eventually it had to go. Had several quotes to remove them and their roots. Cheapest was half the price of anyone else. Probably because he did not have to pay to dispose of them - said his uncle had a farm where he could dump it! Whatever, he did a good job. Garden width and length instantly increased by 6 feet.
One neighbour was so pleased he offered to pay have the cost of the fence that was needed.
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I planted them to absorb the water from a neighbours garden. Keep on top of them and they do a sterling job!
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"Keep on top of them and they do a sterling job!"
Yep that's what my neighbour said when he was fit and ten years younger.
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"I hate Leylandii."
That's a very tree species-ist statement, CG. I suggest, for comfort, you speak to one of your actuarial friends who pronounce about self-limiting world population growth. They will tell you something like '99.999% of Leylandii reach a maximum of 130ft height ....... then stop.' They will not continue growing forever.
So relax, you have nothing to worry about.
;-)
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Ah, but since no Leylandii has yet lived long enough to achieve its maximum growth there is no way of knowing what the maximum height is. It is likely that it is considerably over the 130 feet already achieved by the the oldest specimen since it is still growing.
There is certainly a maximum height, it is not going to grow forever, We just don't know yet what that maximum height is,
We don't really need 130 feet high hedges though do we?
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They are quite usefull as a quick-growing hedge for a temporary purpose. Plant them well clear of where you want the real native species hedge to develop, give it 10 years to establish slowly, then cut the leylandii down.
They do have the advantage that they won't grow back when cut off.
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I share the hatred. By the nature of the way they grow coupled with failed intentions and ownership changes they rarely, if ever, are maintained properly.
We bought this place 3+yrs ago with a row of huge leylandiis pressed against our rear fence, hanging 6ft over the garden and higher than our house. Our garden was parched and dark. Took a real chance that we would manipulate the adj landowners into allowing their removal because we didn't want the house with them in place. We were aware they had been a sticking point with other lookers too as they couldn't see a way they could be removed.
Cautious enquires with the several owners/users of the area the leylandiis stood on revealed no motivation to do anything with them. So for £1000 we engaged a local landscape gardener who one Friday managed a Derren Brown mind control over those involved seeing each person in turn muttering " solicitors.... high hedges act... liability for subsidence claims... got to have access to take them down... etc".
Amazingly no-one blocked him and as we'd planned within a very short time early Sat am he'd felled the lot. Only after they were down did a couple of folks say how they "liked those trees" and that "they should have given us more notice". To this day no-one has realised we paid for the job... they just believe it had to be done because some higher authority said so.
Of course losing a 30yr old massive boundary screen was a bit of a shock seeing houses over the rear that had been hidden for ages but three years on the replacement hard landscaping, pyracantha hedge and four natural species trees we planted have all matured to produce a far softer boundary that doesn't suck light away like leylandii.
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Did your neighbour just accept what you did, CG?
I would not do this, not because I don't hate them too but because tree preservation orders apply. Someone got done for a £110,000.00 fine nearby a couple of years ago, for cutting down a single, witterish pine without permision.
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Did your neighbour just accept what you did, CG?
Well, I asked him first of course and he was quite happy, indeed pleased that I did the work and of course the the hedge was not listed. Never heard of a listed Leylandii hedge!
I do however have two listed 200 year old oak trees on another boundary. I did have some branches of these removed after first consulting with the local planning department. They were quite reasonable and agreed to my request.
Always ask first.
p.s. What's a Witterish Pine?
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£110,000.00 fine? For cutting down a single tree? Isn't that a touch out of proportion to the offence? Yes, I know, we must discourage people from breaking the law, but really, that much? People get fined a couple of grand for driving dangerously and killing a person.
Madness.
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Actually the fine for destroying a listed tree is potentially unlimited.
"If you deliberately destroy a protected tree, or damage it in a manner likely to
destroy it, you could be liable to an unlimited fine. You could also be fined
if you cause or permit such work. Other offences can lead to fines of up to
£2,500."
Never heard of anyone fined £110,000 though. Would be interested to see details of the case.
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>>Someone got done for a £110,000.00 fine nearby a couple of years ago, for cutting down a single, witterish pine without permision
With respect, I find that unlikely.
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www.poole.gov.uk/newsroom/2013-news-archive/june-2013/court-of-appeal-upholds-tree-conviction/
Mind you, it wasn't just cutting down a tree.
A specifically protected tree, his neighbour's not his, paying someone else to do it illegally, done in the dead of night, and then denied, after having previously tried to insist it was cut down, which substantially increased the value of his home.
Still a damned big sum of money.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 28 Aug 15 at 11:00
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You just have to phone the local council with a postcode/location and tree type for them to confirm if there is any TPO.
The difficulty is in a conservation area where any tree you plant becomes protected once it exceeds 3" diameter 5' up the trunk. One of the silver birch trees we planted 3yrs ago is already almost at this point... not that we are in a conservation area.
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There are lots of ways of killing trees without being caught. The guy fined £75k was a plonker..
A large bucket of dissolved sodium chlorate# can be deposited at night - with no evidence left and no witnesses- let alone someone else involved.
And it can repeated at monthly intervals so the tree does not suddenly die but dies gradually...
# or any suitable weedkiller..
Best done when soil is damp so leaving no trace.
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>> sodium chlorate#
I used to use sodium chlorate for weed killing. Did a good job and was very cheap, but has not been available for a number of years now.
Elf 'n Safety, I guess.
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I used to use sodium chlorate for weed killing. Did a good job and was very cheap, but has not been available for a number of years now.
Elf 'n Safety, I guess.
And the ease of making a quite simple explosive. It was cut with a bit of common salt, officially as a flame retardant, but really to try and stop one making an explosive out it. Didn't stop us though, you mixed it 50/50 with sugar (50/50 for unadulterated chlorate and sugar is about right), and burnt a small sample. There would be sugar left over, so you mixed in a bit more chlorate and tried again.
There were some rather load bangs in this area about 40 years ago...
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>>I guess this is the case, although the fine was £75,000.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2340354/Auctioneer-cut-neighbours-tre
e-improve-views-hot-tub-wedding-present-new-wife-ordered-pay-record-fi
ne.html
That's the one. The auction business was in a large house which is now 5 dwellings, so maybe he got his money back that way.
I thought it was a very vindictive fine. It probaly reflected Poole Borough's extreme frustration at not being able to nail similar perpetrators in Sandbanks, about a mile to the left of the main photo, said to be the fourth most valuable area in the world. Getting rid of a tree there is probably worth a developer of £1m plus houses a couple of hundred quid to a criminal, or even a large fine.
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The appeal court judge said the penalty clearly had an element of deterrence.
Don't really have much sympathy. he knew what was doing, thought he'd get away with it and didn't. Basically a selfish individual who held the law in contempt. Judges don't like that.
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we lived in a TPO area, even to get dead trees cut down they had to employ someone to confirm they had some disease and all the reports were put online. When the council chap came around he discovered they had built some garages and not asked for permission. You'd have thought they would have thought about that before getting them around.
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It is our great good fortune to have no close neighbours at all, apart from relations generally of like mind, and to live in a charming English forest where we can do more or less what we like. Regulations, the council and so on hardly ever impinge. No one has to suffer anyone else's noise, cooking smells, badly placed dividing fences or any suburban rubbish of that sort. Disagreements are generally talked out in a highly inefficient rambling manner. Works pretty well as a rule.
There's enough space for two lots of people to be camping out and having cooking fires without being visible from here or audible until they get drunk and start 'singing' or caterwauling. Living here is my great good fortune and quite undeserved, for I have in some ways lived an idle and dissolute life.
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we lived in a TPO area,
I assume you mean a conservation area. TPOs are assigned to individual trees
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Quite possibly, I know that if you wanted to chop a tree down you had to get permission. We didn't have any trees in the garden so we didn't have to go through all the paperwork etc. Might have been handy if there wasn't, loads of birds in the overhanging trees pooping all over our cars but heyho, we didn't live there long.
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>>Someone got done for a £110,000.00 fine nearby a couple of years ago, for cutting down a single, witterish pine without permision
With respect, I find that unlikely.
In fact, I have badly understated the amount.
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In one of our bungalows in Pembrokeshire we had a very bare boundary with one neighbour. It was a good 90 metres, so laboriously I dug holes about 90cm apart and planted Leylandii saplings. This was in the very late 1970s, so I wondered how it was now. I looked on Google Earth and it's still there, but really nicely trimmed!
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Three tips to the tip and its now gone
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Leylandii hedges - MD
