Leylandii

Planted two a couple of years ago to screen my next door neighbour's wheelie bins and they seem to be thriving on bone meal and water, although one is a bit brown.

Anyway, I digress.....................

What I would like to know please, is now they are at the height I want them, do I now prune the leading shoot and hope they thicken up OR should I let them just carry on as they are, getting bigger and bigger hopefully, and lop the tops off (say at about 5 feet) when they are then more mature and thicker?

 

From what I understand Mr Middleton if you lop the tops now they will grow a couple of feet or more but they will thicken out.I stand to be corrected..

 

Thank you for your prompt reply

Can anyone else help with advice please?

 

Ah! Shiney has pinched my words

I too would cut back to below the required eventual height. I usually go for something like 30 cm....even more. This then means future top growth is not woody and easier to maintain Mr Middleton

Pruning will help thicken your hedge too

 

Thank you so much Shiney and Verdun, that is exactly the advice I wanted and was more or less what I thought apart from the 6 to 12" you both varied on, so I will opt for 9" (Ooooh, matron!).

That does make sense as you say avoiding a woody stem at the top of the hedge.