Issue with Leylandi & Sleepers

My GF has planted a row of 10 young Leylandi that we want to grow to 6ft hedge - today she bought and had delivered 3 railway sleepers to put down in front of them as a border... thing is they are creasoted...so is the fence that sits in front of the Leylandi (well it was creasoted once long before the the ley;andi went in and then has been painted with ronseal fence paint ever since)

I have concerns that the rain might wash the creasote into the ground killing the leylandi - Am I right in thinking this? what should we do?

thanks

 

Hello and welcome.

They must be quite old sleepers if they are creosoted, seeing as creosote has been banned for quite a few years now I thought. There is a creosote substitute that is regularly referred to as creosote that I believe is far less toxic.

Either way, creosote was used on garden fences, sheds, railway sleepers, and generally any outdoor wooden things for years, and stuff still grew, so I cam't see that there's be a problem.

The bigger problem will be that in a few years time, nothing will grow in the border because the leylandii will suck all the moisture and nutrients out of the soil. If the bed is raised, I'd act now to dig it all out, get a membrane down to try to stop the leylandii roots coming up into the bed, then back fill, so that in effect the raised bed is isolated from the leylandii roots. That way you might actually stand a reasonable chance of getting stuff to grow in it.

Also, remember to make arrangements for walking on the border without trampling the plants or compacting the soil. Once the leylandii gets going you'll have a choice of either losing the border within a couple of weeks during summer, or getting in there to trim the leylandii width-wise every couple of weeks, otherwise the branches will protrude out over your border and smother your plants.

Finally, make sure you keep on top of it. Leylandii can quickly get away from you once established, and if it gets too heigh to easily cut, you'll end up stuck in a loop of neighbourly fallout until one side concedes defeat and tramples their border in order to get in to top it.

Good luck.

 

If it's old railway sleeper it may not be creosote but tar that is in them

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner 1Bit. I agree with Clueless, if it is creosote then it's unlikely to do any damage to the Leylandii. A word of warning though. Leylandii have a large root spread as they mature and can damage foundations and drains in search of water.

 

thanks for excellent (and reassuring) replies

there is nothing to grow there but the leylandi, we are digging up weed, putting membrane down and covering with bark - so that should work fine

how far do their roots go? the Leylandi is alongside the fence but there is a drain a few feet away, but also a huge tree outside our garden on council land but its about 8ft away from the end Laylandi - I had concerns that this tree was already causing issues with its own roots, I will take a picture tomorrow

my neighbour has really old leylandii in his back garden and when i dug our patch over to put membrane and bark down i saw a huge root coming across into our garden, there is a drain near that too

thanks again

oh P.S. we used a tub of creasote from some shop on the fence when we put it up last year? ...2 coats but it just gets ronseal fence paint now

 

The roots of the tree outside your garden (assuming it's not Leylandii) are less likely to do the damage that Leylandii will. They are hungry and thirsty trees and will break through drains in search of water as I've found out to my cost. My neighbours hedge was 12ft away and has damaged my drains and house foundations twice. He kindly removed the hedge three years ago. Personally I wouldn't plant Leylandii within 30ft of any property.

I would also like to point out if the trees damage neighbouring properties you could be liable for any damage that occurs.

 

Think I would have gone for Yew.

 

I must admit I wouldn't choose leylandii. Not only because of what it does to the soil, but also because I've seen how easily and ferociously it burns. It may as well be made of petrol once it dries a bit. It's unlikely to accidentally ignite while its alive, but if you clip it and allow the clipping to dry for a day or two, it only takes one flick of the lighter to get it going, and once the dry stuff is going, it doesn't take long to get the wet/live stuff going to. When I had a leylandii hedge I used to trim it regularly, burn them in the incinerator bin the same day, but keep a few bits to one side to use as fire lighters for the bin. The routine was: Clip the hedge, put the older/drier saved clippings in the bottom of the bin and and light it, then chuck in the smaller fresh clippings, which would go up in a matter of seconds, then once the incinerator bin had developed a good heart of heat, I'd just chuck the larger clippings on. It was not unusual to have flames about 10ft tall out of the top of the incinerator bin.

There is a thread on here somewhere, but unfortunately the photos have gone, but it showed the aftermath of an arson job on a wheelie bin that spread to a leylandii hedge. The result was not pretty.

 

I will get some photos tomorrow, i think my neighbours hedge must be causing issues then as its closest point is 3ft away from our kitchen

 

If your Leylandii is only recently planted, and you can bare it?!, I'd urge you to consider something different. They are a nightmare in several ways.

Folk plant them because they can grow 3 feet a year and they want an "instant" hedge. I understand that as although I've been gardening for many decades its still a frustration that planting things means waiting before you can enjoy it - whereas if I paint the bedroom today we can start enjoying it tomorrow!

So at 3' a year it will give you a 6' hedge in 2 years time. Trouble is that it will continue to grow at 3' per year. You cannot cut Leylandii back into old wood (it won't regrow) so you must never miss a trim (and nor must your neighbour on his side). You will have to cut it at least 3 times a year to have it looking anything half decent - and within a couple of weeks its going to look shaggy again.

For something similar, without the bad habits, I would go for Thuja plicata atrovirens. Its not quite as quick as Leylandii, but not as slow as Yew either, and it clips to a nice smart hedge. It will tolerate some cutting back into old wood (it will resprout from the trunk, which Leylandii won't). But it will dry out the area at its roots (as will all conifers) - although that's not a problem if you don't need to have a border along the foot of the hedge.

Yew makes a lovely smart hedge. 5 years before its a half decent hedge though (or £100 a plant if you want to buy 2M plants to start off with!!!)

Other choices for evergreen hedges include Holly, Euonymous (some nice variegated ones available), Privet (regarded as one of the easiest and pretty tolerant of abuse!)

If you are after a quickly growing hedge:

Mulch it will (with well rotted manure or similar) in the first spring.

Install a length of leaky hose (I go in/out around each plant and keep it touching the stems so that water goes close to the young roots) all along the hedge

Get some woven (that's important) weed suppressing membrane 1M - 1.5M wide and put it along the hedge (cut a "cross" and feed the young plants through, or cut a slit from one side for each plant). Don't let any weeds / grass grow within 2-3 feet either side of the hedge - nothing robs moisture and nutrients more from a newly planted hedge than competition from Grass.

Connect your hose to the leaky-hose and water the hedge for at least 30mins twice a weak during summer, and 3 times a week if it is really hot and dry. From econd year onwards once a week (twice in drought) will be fine (don't water it frequently, a long deep watering less frequently is far far better than a quick watering every day). Give it a feed of Dried Blood (or something with Nitrogen in it). Dried Blood is somewhat slow-release - which avoids giving it too big a boost in one go (which granular fertilisers can do) may cause the new foliage to burn and "wither"

Those steps will greatly increase the speed that it establishes and grows at.

 

Its carcinogenic . First of all the amount / concentration was dramatically reduced and then further research showed it was far more carcinogenic than previously thought - so now banned.

 

As an aside, I read somewhere recently that cancer is on the increase, even though it is now more treatable than ever before. In my lifetime alone, we've seen all sorts of nasties get banned completely, some get severely restricted, and we've seen greater awareness of risk and better protective gear. Asbestos is no longer used as brake shoe coating. Creosote is no longer used to treat fences. Smoking is down. In many localities you can no longer burn untreated coal in your open fire. Industrial companies have been made to stick things like electrostatic precipitators on their chimneys to catch and lock up particulates. Cars have catalytic convertors and exhaust gas recirculation systems to reduce emissions, diesel ones even have filters on them to catch soot. Yet now as many as 1 in 3 people will get cancer at some point. Britain at least is theoretically a lot cleaner than it used to be, yet cancer is on the increase here. I wonder what else is going on. Maybe its just simply the fact that we live longer, or maybe its that other illnesses are better treated, but it is food for thought.

Anyway, Leylandii eh?

 

My take on it is that the carcinogens take 20 years before it causes illness ... so its what was around 20 years ago that is causing today's cancers. Those that we have already banned will benefit youngters of today, in 20+ years time