I need to trim back a row of Leylandii a foot or so, probably around 25 foot high. I’m not sure which way to go power wise, either petrol or cordless? I have a petrol mower/strimmer but cordless seems to have come a very long way this past few years.

Do I go for the chainsaw type or hedge trimmer type? I know I could get a man in to do the job properly but then I’d miss out on the opportunity to injure myself and buy a new tool. I’ve been quoted £200 so I’d like my budget to be around that.

Thanks.

Two things

1) 25ft high – get a man in, do not use a chainsaw on a pole.

2) trim by 2ft – you’ll be looking at bare branches for the next 15 years.

[Edit: I’m assuming you want to reduce width, not height]

Did ours with a bowsaw a few years ago. Rested the ladder against the trunks. Ended up with a pile of cuttings the size of a van but it was easy the conifer wood is very soft

Petrol.

And a match.

I lowered my hedge by about 3 feet when I moved in, top stays quite brown but green does come through so would be OK in time – can’t really see it from the ground. That was only about 13 ft high though – used electric hedge trimmer and loppers quite a bit. Wish I could reduce the width but can’t go back beyond the green as will stay brown.

Nasty things really.

I’d say a chainsaw is ideal, cut them 12″ above the ground, they’ll grow back a treat 🙂

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYKg0gbRFns[/video]

It’s no more than Leylandii deserve.

🙂

I’d rather do it myself than pay £200 a year. I just want to tidy up the edge facing the back of the house, I understand you can’t take them too far back as they do not ‘reshoot’.

A flame thrower?

a saw! at the base.

I’m just climbing up our overgrown ones and using a Silky Gomtaro.

Pain in the arse of a job, but I’ll get there in the end. Mainly a pain because I have to wait until the car park is empty before I can fell the large ones and with 8 houses sharing the car park, means it almost never happens.

We also have a telescopic long lopper, which despite being from Aldi, is very handy indeed.

This should do it.

How long is the row ? If that £200 includes clearing all the waste away afterwards it sounds worthwhile tbh. Standing 20ft off the ground with a chainsaw is not my idea of a nice weekend.

We’ve got a massive leylanii hedge on one side of the house, one of the covenants when they built the estate was apparently to have a huge hedge to screen us from the posh people.

We cut/get it cut every two years. Getting it cut was £150 (25 foot tall by 30m long). Bloke wasn’t too keen to take the job 2 yrs later mind you!

I’ve done it twice, once with a petrol hedge cutter and a ladder. I’m lucky to still be here. Once with a mates Schtil hedge trimmer on an extension pole and a mini-scaffold/work bench thing. Much easier! I would do the whole helmet/ear/eye protection thing… Bits everywhere.

As gas been said above, the cuttings only half the battle. Collecting it up and taking it to the tip was another story.

I’d only take off 30cm as we have a couple of brown patches where I lost concentration!

Slightly disappointed that the stw massive haven’t recommended something manly and instead are concerned for my safety.

Getting rid of the cuttings isn’t an issue (suitable vehicle and a skip at work), just I’m loathed to pay someone else to do it and miss out on a new toy.

Might have to have a rethink 🙁

[video]http://youtu.be/XZ-EOg38t1o[/video]

[img]http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/kitty_chainsaw.jpg[/img]

sandj going old school there – QR and canti bosses.

Got any pictures of the hedge….or bush 😉

Getting rid of the cuttings is the hard bit. If you have than covered then a ladder leant against the hedge and a bow saw and telescopic loppers works OK. Take plenty off the top though. You can’t see the bare top from ground level. Unless you need a 25′ hedge knock a good bit off. The hedge at the bottom of our road was up to about 20ft before I took 8ft off the top. Luckily a fairly short hedge – 50ft or so.

Stop suggesting he uses saws when it’s a trimming job he’s describing (i.e. NOT reducing height but width).

A 25ft hedge is no fun. You’ll hate every second of it. Sore arms, dead material dusting everywhere, in your eyes, lungs, ears, down your pants, in your mouth, and the scratching live stuff that will coat your sweaty arms and face/neck, then the horrible task of trying to pick it all up (actually an easy job with a rake/bags plus a leaf blower for the strays at the end).

Get the £200 guy to do it. I trim hedges every week for paying customers and I wouldn’t do this for any less than £400 for a one man day job (we don’t know how long the hedge is). And I’ve got the right tools for it.

The row is around 8 meters at the most, tbh I thought £200 was expensive but going off what people are saying it may well be reasonable.

I’d love to apply for a variation on my ticket but I’m not sure if GMP allow autos for leylandii control 😆

Cleaning the black stuff off your hands will cost you more than £200 in soap.

Fire.
Plant something else.

The non-sarcastic answer is you need to have been cutting it regular with shears or hedge trimmer to avoid a thicket of brown sticks being left behind. If you haven’t let it get away and regularly trim your bush it should be easy going for electric or petrol, even a hook with a sharp edge would do.
If it has become a thick mess, fire and start again.

Alas I’ve recently inherited it with the house we’ve just bought. It has been left a while by the look of it. I’m not too fussed about how much I leave on/take off I just want to tidy it up.

Bluearsedfly: Do remember to post on here at the moment (about 20 mins in?) that you realize you should have just paid 200 quid for somebody else to do it.

Honestly, it’s a horrible job.

Just cut it to the size and shape you want it to be. It’ll either be a green screen, or a brown screen, either way it’ll look like shit and you’ve nothing to lose. Ive done it with loppers, shears, a hedgetrimmer, a saw and a machete in the past and in the end it makes sod all difference.