suggestions for trimming leylandii

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Caveat

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Had ours cut down in size last spring at considerable cost.

I don't want to remove them but they will need trimming back by up to maybe 1m come March/April. I really don't want to incur the cost of calling in the professionals or hiring a scissor lift etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions? They are about 5M high with no firm ground around (all spongy grass) I have considered making some sort of wooden platform with 'chocks' for as high a step ladder as I can get.

I don't really mind how long it will take or how labour intensive it might be - any ingenious suggestions please?
 
If you don't remove them they will keep needing to be trimmed, and will never look good for it! Get a landscaper or a man and a mini digger (or JCB) to pull them up, plant some decent sized laurel hedges (thick green leaves all year round) which also grow quickly but can be trained and trimmed like a bush, then have your lawn repaired or resown where damaged. This way you'll only ever do it once, it'll be a lot cheaper and it'll look better. Been there, done all that!!
 
I have been told that the only place to trim a leylandii is about 2 inches from the ground!
 
Caveat said:
I really don't want to incur the cost of calling in the professionals or hiring a scissor lift etc....

....They are about 5M high with no firm ground around (all spongy grass) I have considered making some sort of wooden platform with 'chocks' for as high a step ladder as I can get....

I don't really mind how long it will take or how labour intensive it might be - any ingenious suggestions please?
Click to expand...
It's pointing out the obvious a little... but still worth saying.

A large chunk of the cost for this sort of work is paying for the correct equipment so the job can be done safely and paying for people to do it who have the relevant / required training (this should be the case, however I know that commonly it's not!).

Any job which requires you to work at height (approx 4m) and work with potentially dangerous equipment (something powerful enough to tackle leylandii) will have serious health and safety issues. Throw in the fact that you've no decent grounding to work from and it increases the risks as you introduce ad-hoc solutions.

I'm not saying don't attempt to tackle this, but do seriously consider the risks when you weigh up the potential "savings".

[For clarity, best to mention that a member of my family is one of the aforementioned "professionals"]
 
Thanks

I know it makes sense to remove them but we want the privacy - we will be very exposed whilst waiting for something else to get established. I don't really mind if the trimming makes them look a bit ropey and I'm perfectly prepared to do the work - if I can.

Also, there are about 40 of these which will cost a lot to remove.

Anyone do their own trimming?

Edit: crossed with Satanta's post - yes, you are right to point out the risks - which I am aware of. The actual pruning BTW will only involve a few stray 'wispy' bits though. The height and stability are my main concerns.
 
You could hire trestles and boards from a hire shop. My delightful neighbours have these trees and leave it to me to trim THEIR trees which extend into MY garden. Trees of this nature should be banned from urban gardens.
Cut your losses and rip them up now before you end up having a nasty accident or spending piles of money on them. Do you really have 40 Leylandii ???????
 
ophelia said:
You could hire trestles and boards from a hire shop. My delightful neighbours have these trees and leave it to me to trim THEIR trees which extend into MY garden. Trees of this nature should be banned from urban gardens.
Cut your losses and rip them up now before you end up having a nasty accident or spending piles of money on them. Do you really have 40 Leylandii ???????
Click to expand...

Thanks

I'm aware of the problem these things create in urban areas and those affected have my sympathy. To clarify, we live in a rural area with no neighbours whatsoever.

Sorry - what exactly do you mean by "trestles and boards" and approx. how much would they cost to hire?

Yes we really have 40 of them - we bought the house last year which came with a large garden...and these trees of course.
 
Hi there,

Not sure if you're city or country dweller - we are country dwellers so we get a tractor in with hedge cutter on it - does a lovely job, trims top and sides every year - not so appropriate though if access is a problem.
 
angela59 said:
Hi there,

Not sure if you're city or country dweller - we are country dwellers so we get a tractor in with hedge cutter on it - does a lovely job, trims top and sides every year - not so appropriate though if access is a problem.
Click to expand...

Country dweller - had thought of the tractor/cutter idea for the outsides - access should be OK. What sort of money would I be looking at do you think? (approx. 40 trees)
 
Tractor and hedge cutter will probably mess up your lawn unless the ground is very hard.

5M is going to be too high for trestles and boards. You will porbably need (at least) a self assembly scaffold tower to safely work at that height. The scaffold tower will come with castors so you can move it along the trees as you cut once the ground is reasonably firm. 5m scaffold tower can be hired from most local hire companies for about €120 for the weekend.

You other option would be to hire a scissors lift. You can get 20ft battery operated ones for around €200 for a weekend. Again it should be fine once the ground is reasonably falt and firm.

If you need to know of a reliable hire company in your area let me know and I'll see if I can recommend someone as I deal with many of them throughout the country.
 
I don't want to be a pain here by repeating myself too much, but I've got to make thispoint again. We also moved into a rural house with approx 50 Leylandii running around 2 sides of a large backgarden. Garden was like a cave, even in summer, so we got a very reputable and conscientious man with a tractor and long circular hedge trimmer to try and trim the sides back a bit, and then top them by a few metres. This was done during the summer, so the ground was quite hard, but it still destroyed the garden. We also ended up with tons of branches to dispose of, as well as scalded looking trees which had been cut in half. They looked bloody awful! We tolerated this for one year, then cut them all down to stumps, had the stumps all dug up and removed in a day, and had the garden completely levelled and resown (we had also had some renovations done and the garden was damaged anyway). Soon after we bought about 25 laurel hedge bushes (about 4 ft high each) and planted them a few feet apart down one side of teh garden (we wanted to keep the back view clear), and these are now about 7 or 8 ft tall and very bushy, ie, a complete visual block from teh neighbour's side. I urge you to get rid of these Leylandii weeds at the earliest opportunity; they will only be more expensive later, and the sooner you plant something else, the sooner it will start growing and maturing
 
Hi Caveat,

The guy I use normally charges E60 for doing inside and outside i.e. including outside ditch. I normally get this job done end of August early september when ground is firm but also from natures point of view spring to July you could have eggs in nests.
 
if you cut landii's too low as i think you propose to do, you cut the growth points off and youre left with a brown, leafless hedge at the cutting points.
You've already taken the pain by paying someone like me to cut them for you....so do yourself a big favour-sacirifice your privacy for extra light into your garden and cut them at teh ground. Then plant some nice birch or some other native Irish trees. A beech hedge row is amazing to look at and EASILY maintained. Very neat.
These Landii's just destroy Irish soils....I hate them that much Id nearly kill yours for free!!
If you must cut them
A) Get a local with a tractor a flay
B) Dont go out to lidl or B&Q and buy a chainsaw, without the right training and especially the right protective clothing.....one slip and you've a life changing episode on your hands-or lack off after the slip.

Yours, an "aforementioned professional"
 
Thanks all

I might consider the tractor option for the tops and outsides of the trees where ruining the garden won't be an issue. I'm only talking about getting rid of some new growth and offshoots so 'browning' shouldn't be a problem.

I can slowly dispose of any green waste over a few weeks then.

As for the insides, a secure tall ladder together with a manual long reach pruner might be enough...I'll have to see.

Angela59, I was aware of the nesting issue in general, but didn't think any birds nested in leylandii - do they?
 
Hi Caveat,

We have pigeons that nest in our trees but we also have an natural ditch on the roadside where some birds may nest in spring to summer time. We never have a problem with trees browning as we get them done every year.
 
Caveat said:
Does anyone have any suggestions? They are about 5M high with no firm ground around (all spongy grass) I have considered making some sort of wooden platform with 'chocks' for as high a step ladder as I can get.

I don't really mind how long it will take or how labour intensive it might be - any ingenious suggestions please?
Click to expand...

I have about 200 of these surrounding my garden, I hire a long reach petrol hedge trimmer & use a mix of tall step ladder & extendable ladder propped against the tress to get the job done. Probably not the safest way ... but it gets the job done over a couple of days.
 
browning-where the live tree growth has been cut away-will happen if you cut the branches back too far.

And birds do nest in them occasionally. hop up into them and look for any nests if youre concerned about this. i find its very rare though.

edit-Liam youre a trooper! fair play to ya! keep safe.
 
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Caveat said:
Had ours cut down in size last spring at considerable cost.

I don't want to remove them but they will need trimming back by up to maybe 1m come March/April. I really don't want to incur the cost of calling in the professionals or hiring a scissor lift etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions? They are about 5M high with no firm ground around (all spongy grass) I have considered making some sort of wooden platform with 'chocks' for as high a step ladder as I can get.

I don't really mind how long it will take or how labour intensive it might be - any ingenious suggestions please?
Click to expand...

as i have being do this for 11 years ........pay some one very dangerous
 
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