Conifer Advice Please

Hi all.

I am relatively new to the world of horticulture and was after some advice regarding Conifers.

I currently have conifers the full length (approx 35ft) of my rear garden bordering my/my neighbours property.

My question is: currently they are approx 10ft tall and i would like to cut them down to around 6ft tall without killing them (due to the fact that my garden is rather narrow and the conifers are rather overbearing. i feel it ould be a shame to get rid of them and put a fence up!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Glen

 

Hi Glen and welcome.

Shouldn't be a problem.
The problem can arise if you trim the outer branches to cut the hedge back, as then you will sometimes expose the dead foliage on inner branches.
If you're just going to level off the tops, it will be fine.



Unless you're going for the "random look," I'd advise errecting two tall posts about ten feet apart at the front of the trees, marking off your six foot height on the first and tying off a string between the posts. Then check it with a spirit level on maybe a four foot length of wood by offering it up to the line to make sure the string is level, then mark the second post. Trim the trees, then remove the first post and move it down another ten feet and repeat the exercise. You've more chance of getting the cut reasonably straight that way, especially if your garden isn't level and it should look really good.
If you try to do it by eye it could end up looking a bit like broken teeth.

 

Thank you.
:yho:


I have a laser so will use that to get it level.

 

Well, it depend on the type of conifer. Some you can trim up/down and they look just fine. Others, when cut down as you say, you will totally ruin their natural look and my never get it back. There are so many types of conifers.

 

I'd agreee you can't retain the connifer shape by reducing the height, but you can make it more like a hedge.

 

It will be a hedge with a dead top for a while until the sides are able to grow over and cover it.

For that reason I would cut it a foot or so lower than you actually want, that way you can cut back the new side growth to the height you need, and eventually it will cover over the dead tops, hopefully

 

find out what type of conifer you have before getting the chain saw out....some conifers love a good haircut others just wither & die!

 

We cut the tops off a Leylandii hedge that the previous people had planted, hoping to bring it under control, but it still looked rough and we weren't happy with it, so we grubbed it out and replanted it the following year.

Ours were a lot taller than 10' though, and consequently more "shaggy".

An alternative is to create a one-sided hedge where the bottom branches are retrained into a smart, new, clipped hedge. The back looks a complete mess (probably not a problem in your case) but it is one way to revive a Leylandii hedge.

Pictures of both our shaggy front hedge, and a revived hedge I saw on my travels, on my blog if you are interested.