Removing huge and numerous Leylandii, what now?

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I have begun the task of removing some big green (20-25ft) and golden (10-15ft) Leylandii from the perimiter of our garden (just under 200 meters of trees).

I am hand sawing / chain sawing the trees into pieced that a 7" shredder / chipper can manage and keeping the biggest parts for firewood.

This will leave me with 5 - 10" stumps all around the perimeter, is a stump grinder the best solution to remove these?

At the front at the moment I have a fence made from square posts and lengths of 4x2 this needs to be replaced, what would be the most cost effective way to replace this fence with something similar? any recommendations for materials / suppliers?

Behind the trees (current) at the back there is the very small wooden fence belonging to my neighbour, to one side behind the trees there are concrete posts with 4 steel wires runing through them, to get to the point I need a replacement for my Leylandii forest (hedge). I was considering geting beech hedging from Coillte or somewhere and planting them 40cm apart. Would you recommend this or something else? what would you put along the front behind the new post and rail fence?

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Buzz Lightyear

Hi,

We got rid of a similar number of leylandi a couple of years ago. Must admit that i hired a tree surgeon to do it. Several of the trees were diseased and one had come down in a storm just missing house and car by inches.

We've been left with stumps of a similar height if not a bit lower than yours. On one side of our property I've planted some butterfly bushes which will grow large enough to grow over the stumps.

On the other side we're doing bare root privot hedging this October and I don't feel the stumps of this low height are going to be an issue. We've already topsoiled up to them and seeded to provide a grass verge beside the hedging.

When we moved to the house 10 years ago a couple of the trees were already half down. The stumps in that end of the garden are about 5 foot tall and I have shrubs planted between them. They actually look quite attractive as the are all bare of bark now. However they are gradually rotting so I imagine there will come a stage where we will get rid of them. They will be there for a while yet though.

Can't help with your other issues I'm afraid! Best thing we ever did for the garden was to get rid of the leylandi - more light, more space by far!

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Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

Hi,

We got rid of a similar number of leylandi a couple of years ago. Must admit that i hired a tree surgeon to do it. Several of the trees were diseased and one had come down in a storm just missing house and car by inches.

We've been left with stumps of a similar height if not a bit lower than yours. On one side of our property I've planted some butterfly bushes which will grow large enough to grow over the stumps.

On the other side we're doing bare root privot hedging this October and I don't feel the stumps of this low height are going to be an issue. We've already topsoiled up to them and seeded to provide a grass verge beside the hedging.

When we moved to the house 10 years ago a couple of the trees were already half down. The stumps in that end of the garden are about 5 foot tall and I have shrubs planted between them. They actually look quite attractive as the are all bare of bark now. However they are gradually rotting so I imagine there will come a stage where we will get rid of them. They will be there for a while yet though.

Can't help with your other issues I'm afraid! Best thing we ever did for the garden was to get rid of the leylandi - more light, more space by far!

Hey Thank you,

My stumps are 5 - 12" in diameter I have noticed today, we have cut them off as close to the ground as possible.

In some places I need to remove the stumps because the new hedge will be closer to our boundry, a funny situation where we owned more land than the site was originally marked out as.

cormywormy

You should have cut the stumps about 2 foot tall and then pull them out with a digger or tractor.Then they would be gone for good.

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cormywormy wrote: »

You should have cut the stumps about 2 foot tall and then pull them out with a digger or tractor.Then they would be gone for good.

feck I didnt think of that and I know a dude with a digger, I have a serious amount of shredded material piled up at the moment and I'm not done shreding yet, steam and not the best smell in the world coming from it.

The Sweeper

That's your pile of shredded material in the process of hot composting. If there's steam coming from it, you'll find the temperature in the centre of the pile makes it too hot to touch. It's kinda cool that you managed to achieve a hot compost pile by accident. When the steam stops coming from it, try flipping it with a fork. If it stays hot it'll rot down in weeks.

CJhaughey

Shredded wood gets hot when piled in a heap, much more then green plants heaped into a pile. I think it is some kind of exothermic reaction.

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Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

It's kinda cool that you managed to achieve a hot compost pile by accident. When the steam stops coming from it, try flipping it with a fork. If it stays hot it'll rot down in weeks.

The problem is I have many many tonnes of it at this stage and I'm not finished yet, I can get a loader and trailers but I need somewhere to put it. I'm going to ask the local council dump tomorrow.

Sonnenblumen

Laugh
that's pretty useful raw material which will make an excellent top dressing in 6months time for along the new hedge line. Is there no where on site you can store it?

In regards the stumps, why not get a stump grinder/digger in to deal with roots, better to clear area for new planting.

There are many choices from which to choose, all depending on site aspect, screening height required and preferred maintenance levels.

Butterfly bushes (Buddleia ??) are IMO disastrous messy shrubs which can create huge problems later. Also ugly framework during dormant season is far from appealing as a feature/screen. Beech is a better alternative but very slow growing but there are many other possibilities.

More info on details required however before making any recs.

laugh

Laugh
that's pretty useful raw material which will make an excellent top dressing in 6months time for along the new hedge line. Is there no where on site you can store it?

The sheer quantity is the problem, I could probably put a quarter of the smallest pile to use. The local dump won't take it and it is steaming away.

In regards the stumps, why not get a stump grinder/digger in to deal with roots, better to clear area for new planting.

I will look into the stump grinder but I wont have time for a few weeks I think, Someone told me to paint something with nitrogen in it on to the stumps to stop them affecting other stuff near to them

There are many choices from which to choose, all depending on site aspect, screening height required and preferred maintenance levels.

Butterfly bushes (Buddleia ??) are IMO disastrous messy shrubs which can create huge problems later. Also ugly framework during dormant season is far from appealing as a feature/screen. Beech is a better alternative but very slow growing but there are many other possibilities.

Beech was my plan but the neighbour along one side has said she doesnt like them, so I'm still considering what to do there. I would like something that can be cut back with a hedge trimmer when it reaches the desired height and depth.

At the moment I am working on gathering up the huge amount of wood left over and stacking it to dry for 18 months plus, and sourcing material for a new fence for the front.